Happiness is Overrated
by SGCbearcub
Summary: Her father had just wanted to dance at her wedding. Such a simple wish to spark an alien civil war.[SJ RST]
1. Legacy 1

Author's Notes: This story has been lying around on my computer for a while. It was originally intended as the first installment of a much larger project(not published yet),then I saw Threads and decided to keep the project canon with season eight. However, by the time Threads aired, this story was complete and not reusable.I thought I'd clean it up and post it anyway. I'll be posting the chapters as they get edited.The server hates my word processor and keeps murdering the formatting, so it may take a day or two to finish uploading.

* * *

Her father looked old.

Even on Netu, weak as he had been, he had still seemed like the man she remembered. Sick, injured, and at the end of his strength, but holding a sense of...life. Nothing like this. His face was ashen, and she did not need the charts to know the truth. Her father was dying. Carefully slipping one hand under his, she tightened her fingers slightly. Shocked when his fingers squeezed back, she snapped her head up to see him staring back at her.

"Dad?" her voice contained equal parts hope and joy.

Regret flashed across her father's face. "Colonel...Carter," Selmak whispered haltingly.

Tears pooled in her eyes, regret and loss combined with the fact of hearing him speak at all. In any manner.

"Don't try to talk." She wrapped her other hand around their joined hands tightly. "Thoran explained everything and they think they may have a cure. We're arranging to get you to the Tok'ra as soon as possible."

Selmak arched as his head lashed back and forth. "No!"

She gasped as her fingers were crushed in an iron grip. Selmak shuddered, and a racking cough twisted his body. Helplessly she watched, tears burning her cheeks as she could do nothing. Before she could call for the nurses, his body collapsed. He lay there, still holding her hand, dragging in one labored breath after another. When his eyes finally opened, he tightened his already bruising grip.

"There is something you must know."

* * *

Carter was late.

"We'll will transport him as soon as the stasis tank is brought through the Stargate," Thoran informed them, clearly annoyed with the delay.

Jack opened his mouth to tell him that they could darn well wait until Carter got here to make any final arrangements when he saw her through the plate glass wall of his office. Considering the circumstances he expected the hard set to her features, but something about the way she was moving set his back teeth on edge. He was halfway to his feet when she knocked perfunctorily and entered. Daniel's eyebrows shot up as she ignored the two Tok'ra entirely.

"Sir. I apologize. My father regained consciousness briefly."

Thoran appeared shocked while Delek nodded. "That is good news, Colonel Carter."

She gave him a cold stare. "He's not leaving," she stated flatly.

Her tone brought Jack to his feet, combat instincts firing. Daniel and Teal'c shifted reflexively, field training frustrated by office furniture. Unable to take up flanking positions, they settled for looming. Well...Teal'c loomed. Daniel crossed his arms and looked watchful.

"Colonel..." Thoran began.

Carter cut him off. "My father came here to attend my wedding. It was important enough for him to delay his next mission and I'm not going to try and talk him out of it. He wants to stay and Selmak supports his decision."

Thoran's voice rose, symbiote tones astonished and outraged."You would doom your own father when it is possible we might save him? Might save Selmak?"

"Selmak is already dead. They know there's nothing to be done." Carter glanced once toward Jack, then continued evenly,"If my father choses to risk his own life in order to spend his last few weeks on Earth, then that is his decision."

"And if he dies, Colonel?" Delek asked bluntly.

"Hey!" Jack snapped.

Carter smiled grimly. "Then he'll die at home. You can have his body for study. After."

Not even Thoran had a comeback to that blunt insult. Both Tok'ra turned toward Jack, waiting for him to say something. Jack was too busy staring in appalled silence to say anything intelligent. She met his eyes without blinking. He hesitated, then waved a dismissive hand toward the Tok'ra. They were not happy about it, but they left. Even remembered to bow slightly in spite of their outrage. Through the glass, Jack saw two SFs detach themselves from the wall and discretely escort them in the direction of their guest quarters.

"Sam, what the hell..." Daniel's tongue finally hit second gear.

"They murdered him."

The words stopped them all cold.

Her shoulders were rigid beneath her BDUs and she jerked around to stare through the glass plate. The starmap drew strange reflections on her face, dark shadows running across her cheekbone and down the side of her exposed jawline. Jack edged sideways until he could see her profile better. Teal'c shifted uneasily and Jack got a strange feeling prickling across the back of his neck. Daniel looked at his immobile teammates, then back at his CO.

"Sam...it was an accident," he said carefully." Jacob said it himself. They were trying to take out a group of Ba'al's supersoldiers and Selmak was exposed to the symbiote poison."

Sam spun around, eyes bleak with a fury Jack recognized. Sorrow swept through him. Ah hell. Damn them to hell.

"Report Colonel," he kept his voice even, demanding enough to give her something to hang on to. She needed his control right now, not his anger. There would be other opportunities to express his rage with the Tok'ra. Later.

Carter's jaw tightened."Dad wanted to be here for the wedding."

Jacob had wanted to finally keep a promise to his daughter.

She did not say it, but Jack heard it anyway. At least she knew that he had tried. There was more than one reason Jacob had pushed the engines of an aging cargo ship past redline to save two pilots flying Dutchman. Why he had allowed himself to be talked into rescuing a captured Teal'c when he had already told Jack that the Jaffa was expendable. Jack suspected those were the only two times after her mother died that Carter had demanded anything from her father.

Jack groaned and rubbed his face tiredly."Carter?"

"Selmak thinks his willingness to postpone a mission to accommodate his host gave those working against him the ammunition they needed to move against him. Whatever compound he was exposed to is non-lethal to symbiotes. But the initial symptoms mimic symbiote poisoning. They masked a second poison." her voice broke off.

Jack did not need to guess which half the second poison killed. "Do the Tok'ra have a cure?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head.

Daniel cursed softly in Goa'uld.

"The Council has been discussing using the symbiote poison," Carter said finally, obviously expecting them to connect all the dots.

Daniel frowned when she did not continue."We knew that."

Teal'c was silent.

"Let me guess," Jack growled." Not against the supersoldiers?"

He was beyond wondering how Daniel could still look shocked.

Carter swallowed tightly. "Selmak has been the chief opposition to the plan. He has lost power with the Council due to what they see as undo influence from his host, but his support among the rest of the Tok'ra is growing. Unfortunately, it's badly fragmented."

Jack's eyes narrowed."Why?"

Daniel glanced at him. "Why what?"

"Why is his support growing? Why is it fragmented? Why shouldn't I turn them all over to Ba'al? Take your pick Daniel!" he snapped.

Daniel glared but did not respond.

Teal'c responded heavily. "They are two thousand years out of Egeria, Daniel Jackson. There has been time for much change to take place."

Carter turned away from the window,"Those who want to take the fight to the Goa'uld are undercover on the front lines. They compose the greatest portion of the Tok'ra but are the least powerful segment of the population, politically. They are out of contact for years - and what information they do get is subject to the bias of whoever is transmitting the information. Selmak says half the information they get about us comes from the Jaffa or the Goa'uld."

Oy.

The military grapevine gone galactic.

Daniel sighed, "Whereas those who want power can sit back and consolidate their power base."

Teal'c tilted his head thoughtfully,"The attack on Revanna created a large void within the Council after Persus and Garshaw were killed. A strong leader would have been welcomed."

"Thoran?" Daniel asked shrewdly.

Teal'c bowed his head,"Perhaps."

"Selmak isn't sure why they bothered to use a host-only poison on him, but figures at least one of the conspirators protested killing both of them. Even if that is true, he assumes at least one of them will try to kill him after Dad...dies. A failed Blending or an accident on the way home would mask the murder. They'll make a martyr out of him and use his death to rally his supporters into an all out attack against the Goa'uld."

"Is Jacob conscious?" Jack asked.

She closed her eyes briefly and Jack recognized the flat, empty gaze that looked back at him when they reopened."It's taking all Selmak has just to keep Dad alive. He says he recognizes the symptoms." She said nothing further.

"God Sam. I'm so sorry," Daniel said quietly.

She nodded sharply. Jack met Teal'c's shuttered gaze with one of his own. Before he could do more than acknowledge the desire for vengeance he saw kindling there, Carter squared her shoulders and faced him fully.

"We need a host for Selmak, Sir."

Jack blinked. "Wha..huh? Run that by me again."

"We can't trust that there really will be a host waiting for him when he is returned to the Tok'ra, Sir. Or one who will be sympathetic to Earth. We need to find a host willing to help him fight the Council. Someone with military training if possible."

She had the gall to say that with a straight face, Jack thought dazedly. Sure...no problem Carter. Right after Jack finished explaining to General Vidrine how the Tok'ra had assassinated the last Earth/Tok'ra ambassador.

"This will be a long and bitter battle, Colonel Carter," Teal'c commented thoughtfully.

She stared through the glass wall, toward the Stargate. "I know."

* * *

Jack found himself wandering toward the infirmary and reluctantly admitted that he did not want to do this. Unfortunately, those damn stars on his uniform left him with the short straw. He had been in this position before, but normally he had someone up the line to whom he could complain.

Hard to make snarky, stress-relieving comments to the President.

The infirmary was silent. A single nurse looked up as he entered and he waved her away. What he had to say was better done without witnesses. He made his way toward the far bed, careful to make as little noise as possible. Even so, Jacob's eyes were open and turned toward him as he stepped up beside him. He jammed his hands in his pockets and stared at the man awkwardly.

"Jacob?"

A soft sigh reached his ears and Jacob's head shook slightly. "He will not regain consciousness before the end, General."

Jack stopped rocking on his feet as guilt and sorrow crashed through him. "I see."

Selmak watched him as he sank into the chair beside the bed. Given the distance from the rail, Jack figured Carter had been the last one to visit.

"This is hard on her," Selmak said finally.

Jack smiled tightly, "Yeah, well..." then stopped.

What was he supposed to say?

She had confronted her fears about losing people long enough to reach out to someone and now her father was dying. Jacob was supposed to live long enough to see his great great great GREAT grandkids, for a woman who was worried she was going to get killed offworld and leave her own kids the same way she had been left. Jack suspected Jacob's projected lifespan had been a comforting thought.

In his reports, McKenzie had emphasized her unspoken fear after the attack on the Alpha Site. Young teenage children whose same-sex parent died during those impressionable teen years, generally grew up with a subconscious conviction they would die by the same age. Jack had read that fact way back when he had first read her file, but it had never made the sort of sense it made now.

Carter's mother had been 38.

She got past it. She fought it and she beat it and she agreed to marry Pete Shanahan. Maybe she was only trying to grab some happiness while she could. So what? She was right. Every time they stepped through that Gate they risked it. He understood and he could honestly be happy for her, even if he did think she was making a mistake.

What did he know?

It was not like he was biased or anything, right?

Now her father was dying.

"If I could prevent it, O'Neill, I would."

Oddly enough, he had never questioned that fact.

"We have a host for you," Jack said finally.

There was a long moment of silence before Selmak nodded slightly. "We have met."

Jack waited. "And?" he asked impatiently.

"He seems to be a ...good man."

Jack frowned at the hint of disappointment lacing the Tok'ra's voice, slightly put out at the lack of enthusiasm. Ungrateful snake. Did Selmak have any idea the hoops Jack had had to bend, bypass, and just plain flatten with a truck?

"What?" he demanded, irritated.

Selmak gazed at him, face unreadable. "He is fine."

"Yeah. Right," Jack said. "What's wrong with him?"

Selmak shrugged lightly, as if the issue was of no real interest to him. "He will be a fine host, O'Neill."

Jack wanted to take the answer and run. Literally. But...

As much as it made his head explode, the snake was Carter's family too. Sorta.

"Are you going to be okay with this?" Jack asked bluntly. "With him?"

Selmak stared at him until Jack shifted uncomfortably, then appeared to take great interest in the ceiling tiles.

"I will miss Jacob,"Selmak said softly.

Ah.

"Yeah." Jack stared at his hands for a long moment. "Me too."

"I just hope the memories will be enough."

Jack's head jerked up at the hesitant note in the Tok'ra's voice. He could have sworn he heard fear. Then Selmak started,and Jack realized he had not been meant to hear anything at all.

"What?"

Selmak shook his head wearily.

Jack sighed,aggravated."Spit it out, Selmak."

Selmak's eyes sparked with angry frustration. "You have no idea what it means to be Blended O'Neill, and you have no desire to learn. Why do you even bother to ask a question you do not wish answered?"

Jack narrowed his eyes,"Selmak?" his tone warning. This time it was the soldier asking.

Selmak glared." We will live as one and fight as one. Do you not understand that yet? I am only as strong as the two of us together. If my host's conviction wavers, it will be my weakness. Jacob is formidable. A warrior and a true friend. I will grieve until I die at his loss." He paused, then added quietly,"I fear my own ability to win the coming battle if the host you provide is inadequate."

Jack reared back,"Hey! You said he was a nice guy."

Selmak rolled his eyes,"He is not a warrior O'Neill. It will make a difference. " Selmak paused, then added softly,"The fanatics are right to fear the Tau'ri."

Jack snorted."We're only human, Selmak." His tone was laced with an irony lost on the alien.

Selmak just looked at him. "You do not question your right to be equal in all things with us, even with all that you do not know. This is a necessary thing, but do you not understand that this is something we do not know how to handle? Egeria dreamed of creating a symbiotic race, but in her heart hoped only for the defeat of the Goa'uld. We have no memories for how to proceed when faced with hosts such as you. No culture. No guidelines or protocols. This, for a race where to smile at the wrong time can mean death or torture.What happens when we can no longer count on the Tok'ra being the Tok'ra? On the conviction of each to the same end? It is all we have. It is who we are. It is all we have ever had."

Selmak stopped for a breath, and watched as Jack picked at the bed linen.When he continued, his voice was pained. "The end of the Goa'uld was the reason I was created. Her children were Egeria's apology for the circumstances of our biology. But our hosts cannot escape the consequences of being born to slavery and violence anymore than we can. When I Blended with Jacob, an entire new universe of possibilities opened up. Something new and terrifying. " Selmak closed his eyes tightly. "You have no idea what I have lost," he said hollowly.

Jack twitched, flashing uncomfortably on the bleak sense of loss that had threatened him as he watched his team step through the gate for the first time without him. The aching blackness that had settled into his chest and simply hurt. "You might be surprised." he said quietly.

"Jacob believed in the Tok'ra. He looked at us with an outsider's eyes and saw something worth saving." Selmak's tone was bitter. "That alone was priceless."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Get real, Selmak. Since when do the Tok'ra care what we think?"

Selmak's eyes flashed angrily. "If you are worthy of our respect, then your judgment must matter, O'Neill. Why do you think Thoran is so angered by you?"

Jack blinked, then smirked. "My natural charm?"

Selmak studied him with a long searching look. Jack got the distinct impression the Tok'ra did not found what he was looking for. Defensive anger surged reflexively, but he held his tongue as Selmak looked at him sadly.

"You are young, O'Neill, and your choices often seem foolhardy to us. But you are not a fool. In your arrogance you force us to defend the actions we have taken for almost two thousand years, and none of it is enough for you."

Jack felt every muscle slowly lock in place as an odd sort of listening silence descended. As if his entire body was waiting for the answer.

Selmak made an odd gesture with one hand. "Is it too much to ask for the same respect we accord you?"

Jack held the other man's gaze. " Believe it or not, I respect the Tok'ra, Selmak. I just don't trust you."

Selmak gazed at him unblinking. When he finally spoke, his tone was defeated. "Then your respect is worthless, O'Neill. And you have learned nothing of us at all."

Jack felt his face fall into a familiar mask. Knew his eyes had gone flat and dark. "I know where you draw the line." he said softly.

Kanan had betrayed him. Lied to him. Walked off with his body and delivered everything Jack knew about Earth and the SGC right into the hands of the enemy.

Had left Jack in the hands of the enemy.

Selmak gave a short bark of bitter laughter. "Then you understand nothing."

Jack jerked to his feet and stuffed his hands into his pockets to keep from hitting something. He glared down at the body of the man he respected and the alien who kept pushing all the wrong buttons.

"He needed my skills and my body so he took them. Period. Don't tell me I can trust you because I know I can't. Next time it might be Carter or Daniel or any one of my people. No way, Selmak. No damn way."

Selmak's mouth tightened. "It should not have happened."

"It did." Jack snapped.

"You miss the point. " Selmak said carefully. "It should not have been possible for it to happen. Kanan either could not stop it or he let it happen. Either way..."

Before he could finish, his eyes widened in sudden shock and Selmak cried out as his body convulsed. Jack grabbed for him as he arched violently, head lashing, eyes flaring. The Tok'ra screamed, the high-pitched sound recalling memories better left unremembered. Selmak labored for breath even as he arched again.

Jack ducked one swinging arm and barely had time to grab the other before it could connect with the nurse who was suddenly just there. More nurses, a doctor, and several SFs also appeared, pinning Selmak until Carmichael could sedate him. Jack released his grip to a hard-eyed Sergeant and and was about to pull away when Selmak's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

Jack cursed and nearly went to his knees as the bones grated and his tendons burned. Pain shot up his arm and a startled SF nearly lost his hold on the patient as he tried to decide if he should rescue his CO.

"Hold him down." Jack ground out past clenched teeth.

Selmak was trying to speak. "O'Neill..." another convulsion and Jack was dragged forward until he was half lying over the body on the bed. Selmak cried out painfully. When the convulsion finished, Selmak lay on the bed panting, eyes anxiously searching the bodies ringing the bed.

"O'Neill!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Selmak." Jack managed, dryly.

The Tok'ra fastened his gaze on Jack's face. "You must protect her. Promise me. You have to understand. It's why they killed Jacob. Kanan should not have happened. Do you understand?"

Carmichael darted a worried glance at the monitors and jammed a syringe into the IV port. Jack winced. Man was too damn fond of long needles. Memories of another doctor momentarily launched a sneak attack. He focused on the man staring at him, the desperation on the Tok'ra's face giving him a bad case of battlefield jitters.

"Selmak..." he started.

Selmak gasped and his body arched weakly. Jack felt the SF flinch as Selmak's eyes flared, then flared again. The grip on Jack's wrist tightened painfully.

"Not Kanan's fault. Yours. " Selmak gasped. " The Council knows. Your will. Protect her."

Then he passed out.

Jack stayed frozen as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. Protect her? The grip on his wrist relaxed as the sedative took over completely and Jack waited as the SF cautiously peeled Selmak's fingers back one by one. He rubbed his wrist and frowned down at the man in the bed. Protect her. Protect who?

Why?


	2. Legacy 2

Selmak never regained consciousness.

There was no sarcophagus to save the day. No last minute reprieve. Two weeks after the episode in the infirmary, Jacob awoke and demanded to see Sam privately. Three hours later, tears in her eyes, she called for the nurses. Clutching the large vase of flowers she had brought with her, she fled to her quarters. Daniel found her stretched out on her bed and staring at the ceiling.

She spent the next two days by his side, quietly holding his hand. Daniel was worried about her and even Teal'c seemed disturbed by her unnatural calm. She could have told them of the crying jags, the smashed pottery during those hours she forced herself to go home. In the end, it hurt too much and she locked it away for a safer time.

She had one more job to do.

Thoran and Malek arrived shortly after Carmichael tersely informed the General that there were only a few hours left. Malek paused when he saw her and stepped toward her, his eyes hesitantly sympathetic. She wanted to appreciate the gesture, and she would. Later. Instead, she shook her head slightly and stepped away from him. Pain flashed briefly in his eyes and she realized with a shock that he truly regretted her father's loss.

She filed that observation away for future consideration.

The General had been avoiding the infirmary so it was Daniel who told her that he had spent most of the past two weeks on the phone. With the President. With the Joint Chiefs. Daniel did not know why, but when Jack trailed into the infirmary behind the two Tok'ra, the exhaustion and defeat in his eyes nearly broke her heart. She wished...

Thoran carefully placed the stasis box on the floor and stood waiting. His eyes were blank as they rested on the barely breathing form of all that was left of her father. No, she corrected herself. Not all that was left. Some part of him lived on in Selmak. But it was not the same thing. It would never be the same thing. Her vision wavered and when she blinked back the tears, she discovered that her teammates had edged closer. Not enough to crowd her, but close enough to make it blatantly clear that they stood between her and the rest of the world. She wanted to smile, but was so afraid she would lose control.

So afraid she would lose them.

Everything was changing again and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She let her gaze rest on each of them, marveling at how much they had come to mean to her. Her gaze landed on the General and she traced his features carefully, laying them side by side her first memory of him. He had changed so much. Gotten older. Gotten tired. But he was still Jack O'Neill at the core. She wondered if he had any idea what he had meant to her over the years. The way he had guided her. Taught her. Left her no wiggle room and a damn good example to follow.

She was what he and the Stargate had made her.

She regretted asking him about his failed marriage so bluntly. She had not wanted to reopen old wounds, but who else was she supposed to ask? He understood what it meant to be in command. To take the risks. To need a reason to come home. To need someone to hold. Someone,she finally understood, that could not be in her direct chain of command. Not if she was going to be able to do her job.

By everything he had taught her, she had been obligated to ask.

Any potential weakness needed to be understood, and it would have hurt him more if she had asked someone else. He was her mentor and example. Her guide to what a good officer needed to be. No matter what else she might have wanted him to be, someday in another reality, he was first and always her commanding officer in this one. To ask anyone else would have betrayed that relationship. She was obligated to ask.

_I would not be here_

He had given her the best he had to give. As always. There had been two possible interpretations to her question. At work, in these circumstances, she had asked about the first. It was only when he answered, that she realized that maybe he was answering the second. It was same answer it had always been. If things had been different, if Charlie had not died, he would not be there. If things had been different for them, he could not.

Answer, offer, rejection, or warning.

In the end, it was all the same.

_I would not be here_

* * *

Jack flinched as a strident alarm sounded as the heart monitor fluctuated dangerously. Carmichael reached reflexively for the crash cart, then pulled his hand back to his side. From her place by Jacob's side, Jack saw Carter gently to touch her father's face and although her mouth moved, he heard nothing.

Thoran grabbed the stasis box.

Jack held up one hand. "That won't be necessary."

Thoran froze, outrage on his face.

Daniel leapt into the fray before things got out of hand. "We found a host for Selmak."

Both Tok'ra stared at him in shock. Daniel started to turn toward the SF at the door, presumably to request that he go get said host, when Teal'c stepped forward.

"The presence of Aaron Danner will not be required, Daniel Jackson."

Heads across the room whipped back and forth and Jack closed his eyes and cursed silently. He should have seen this coming. Teal'c knew as well as he did what it meant for the Jaffa if Selmak failed. He also had a hell of a lot at stake. Oh yeah, he definitely should have seen this coming.

"You don't have to do this, T," he said quietly.

Teal'c inclined his head."Indeed I do, O'Neill. It is becoming clear that if I remain, it is unlikely that I will be permitted to die as a warrior should. Your protection will not last forever."

Carter was staring at Teal'c with a stunned expression. The offer had obviously taken her completely by surprise. For a moment Jack was tempted to let Teal'c do it. For a moment. Before he could say anything, Carmichael started frowning at the readouts on the monitor. Jack was opening his mouth to ask for an explanation when something screamed.

Nurses exploded into action and Carmichael grabbed for his patient. In the back of his mind Jack was wondering at Carter's lack of reaction, but he was too busy trying to figure out why the doctor was bothering to move at all. Then the readouts on the EEG flatlined.

Both of them.

Thoran shoved his way toward the bed and heaved a nurse out of his way. She pinwheeled into the wall behind her, saved from a nasty fall only by Teal'c's quick grab for her arm. Thoran had a healing device lit and playing over the back of Jacob's neck before she stopped falling. Malek made a pained sound and Carter's hands clenched slowly into tight fists. Her face and eyes were empty.

Jack knew the result even before Thoran shut off the device and looked up in bewilderment. In that moment, Jack knew for certain Thoran knew what had happened. Maybe he was not directly involved in the plot to kill Jacob, but he damn well knew the symbiote should have been alive. From the look in Teal'c eyes as his gaze caressed the back of the Tok'ra's neck, the Jaffa knew it too. Without a single clue how close to death he was, Thoran turned bleak eyes toward Malek who seemed close to tears.

"I am sorry, Colonel Carter. They are both dead," Thoran said flatly.

Given that he had not moved until the symbiote had seemed distressed, Jack wondered why he bothered. Still, Carter had just lost her father. He hesitated for a moment, then edged toward her. He was about to offer to have someone drive her home when she turned to him, her expression holding a distance that worried him.

"Permission to accompany my father's body back to the Tok'ra base, Sir."

Wha...?

Like hell.

"Carter?"

"Anise will need to examine the body as soon as possible, Sir."

Teal'c was watching him, waiting.

Obviously Carter was determined to see this thing through to the end. If Anise was on their side, maybe they could even find something that would hang those bastards on the Council. At least Carter would know she had tried.

"Only if SG-1 goes with, Colonel," he forced himself to say calmly.

As if that had ever been in question. He looked at Daniel's protective expression and Teal'c's infinitely more dangerous one and sighed.

Oy.

* * *

Grief and anger. Of the two she preferred anger. It blazed in a tiny cold ball that allowed her to push back the mind-numbing grief long enough to do what she had to do. Long enough to give the order to her team, long enough to get geared up while the General did whatever it was he had to do to get permission for her to take her father's body through the Stargate one last time.

Denial raged and seethed. It should not have ended like this. He was supposed to have danced at her wedding. All he had ever wanted was to see her happy. She had just wanted to make him happy. How odd to realize that all these years, that's exactly what she had been.

Happy.

She had wanted more. Hell yes, she had wanted more. But the price had been too high. She loved her job. She loved stepping through the Stargate. The high stakes sometimes masked that fact, and the things she had begun to fear she would never have had misled her into thinking perhaps she had made the wrong choices. But looking back, she had been happy.

It had been exhilarating, never knowing what they would find. Seeing herself reflected in his eyes as she became the officer she had always wanted to be. The sort of officer that - before him - no one had ever expected her to become.

Perhaps she had missed out on a few things, due to fear. When push came to shove however, she had started exploring those options for the right reasons. It would not have been easy, making any sort of transition. Waiting for Jack had made her life...less complicated. But it would not have been easy, loving him. Neither of them did easy. Worse, he had been married before. Had had a family while living the sort of life she was living. Pete had been an experiment in normal. She had not meant to...

Life just had a way of taking off in the wrong direction.

jack was not supposed to end up running the SGC. The Alpha Site, sure. The Beta Site, okay. The damn Jaffa rebellion for all she cared. She did not expect him to retire. They needed every good officer they could get and they needed him most of all. But there was supposed to be a pay-off. After seven years, SG-1 was hers and he was supposed to be somewhere not in her direct chain of command.

Fate had a Goa'uld sense of humor.

No promotion was going to solve this one.

The worst part? He was a good choice for the job. He knew the risks, and he knew the people. He was not General Hammond, but in some ways he was better. He only took the star because it gave him the power to protect his people when he could no longer do so in the field. Considering the things they dealt with, he was a good choice.

But it was killing him.

Day by day she watched as exhaustion took its toll. As the inability to act directly, to follow them into the field, stole some small piece of his soul. Given his personality, he needed someone like Davis as a staff officer. Hell, the SGC needed a permanent on-site XO. Instead, he got Dickson, who was in the field as often as Colonel O'Neill had been. The Colonel was good at his job and he had no issues with SG-1, but General O'Neill was not General Hammond and this war was a long way from over. They would keep going the way they were going until he was forced to retire in another 15 years, she was killed or promoted out of the field, or the SGC was blown halfway to Pegasus.

There was only room for SG-1 in that equation.

The moment all his plans for Teal'c had come crashing down, she had known it was going to hurt. All he had wanted was for one of them to be happy. So she said yes to Pete. She decided that something was better than nothing and to free them both from this hell they were trapped in together. It would not be perfect, but she could be happy. She could be there for him. Watch his back. Protect the planet for him and run interference where she was needed. She was not a staff officer, but she would do what she could. Maybe it would free him to be happy too.

At least, that had been the plan.

Daniel and Teal'c did a good job of keeping the Tok'ra away from her. The rest gave her uneasy glances as if they sensed the seething rage beneath the calm she projected. She did not care why they avoided her, as long as they kept their distance. She only had to keep it together for another few hours. Just until the Memorial Assembly. Selmak had been a war hero and Council member longer than most of the Tok'ra had been Blended. Every Tok'ra not deep undercover had been recalled.

The crystals had been growing for two days, building a room that had not been used in almost twenty years. Solemn Tok'ra gathered quietly throughout the night. Some would have offered condolences, but Teal'c met every attempt with a gentle suggestion that it would be better received after the ceremony. Most nodded quietly and drifted off to talk about their memories of Selmak.

When it was time, she changed into her Dress Uniform and SG-1 made their way to the Assembly Room. When everyone was seated and the Council gathered, Thoran stood and faced the amphitheater. Before he could speak, she stood and strode to the Speaking Stone. The ceremony was structured, and she knew her motion out of turn was jarring. Every eye jerked towards her and she saw outrage on every face. She stood in the center of the Stone and waited the appropriate length of time.

Daniel was having a cardiac arrest at this O'Neillesque slaughter of local custom. Teal'c was edging toward the doorway, no doubt preparing to clear an escape route if things turned ugly. Delek was turning purple and she viciously hoped the fanatics in the crowd identified themselves. Because when she was done, the crowd would tear them to pieces.

Her relationship with the host gave her no special status and certainly did not qualify her to be standing here, but she had also been host to Jolinar and that meant she was not automatically an outsider. Given her likely state of mind, they would blame her actions on Tau'ri youth and incomplete memory. The fanatics were probably hoping to use this against Earth. She smiled slowly, eyes hard.

"Jacob Carter has been lost to us."

Another murmur of outrage swelled, this one gaining strength. This was a Tok'ra memorial. For Selmak, not his latest host.

"He believed in you. He believed in what the Tok'ra stood for and what he believed we could become together." Her voice rang out strong and clear, not so much an accusation, but a challenge to meet those expectations. She swept hard blue eyes around the room, knowing her physical resemblance to Jolinar - even without the familiar clothing - had never been stronger.

"He believed the Tok'ra were worth saving."

This last was a flat statement carrying all the disappointment of a parent for erring children. She knew the accusation spoke to the racial insecurity they all felt. They were angry and confused, but shock and her timing, combined with inbred compliance to tradition held them silent. The Speaker held control. The audience was to listen. Sam turned to face the Council and found most of them seething with barely restrained fury. Most...

...but not all.

"Jacob Carter stood for the best that the Tok'ra can achieve. Tau'ri and Tok'ra. A Blending of equals, and he was sacrificed for daring to believe in what we could become."

She leveled a steely gaze at the room, knowing every word was being heard clearly. Recording devices were purring inaudibly, saving for posterity and those who could not be present. She smiled grimly, her teeth bared at the Council in blatant challenge. None of them had any idea. None.

The war was just beginning.

"My name is Selmak, and I accuse the Council of murder."

Her eyes flashed.


	3. Legacy 3

_Author's Notes: Thank you so much for the reviews! I admit, some of you surprised me. You picked up on something that I had originally intended to emphasize, then decided not to mention. Man...you folks are scary good! Hopefully the story will answer most of your questions. I can't yet, without giving too much away, but there's only a couple chapters after this one.Cheers!_

* * *

Jack resisted the urge to race to the control room when the alarm sounded. He walked. Quickly. Ignoring the sidelong glances as he hovered over the Gate tech's shoulder he waited impatiently for confirmation of SG-1's code and watched as the iris retracted. They were on time. That was...good. On time was always...good.

Bad enough that she was taking her father's body to another planet, but she still had to inform her brother that Jacob was dead. He had already filled out the paperwork granting her compassionate leave. Just in case, he had cleared Daniel's schedule too. No doubt she would want Pete to go with her, but there were times when a team member was better. Besides, Daniel had a god-given gift for provoking fights with people who just wanted the world to go away.

Carter was too much like her CO sometimes.

Which probably explained why Daniel had just stalked out of the Gate and strode out of the Embarkation Room without so much as a by-your- leave. The SF at the door barely had time to catch the weapon shoved at him then he was gone. Since he was heading in the right direction, was now unarmed, and no one was screaming, nobody shot him.

Carter walked down the ramp more slowly. Her head was high and she made no move to go further once she reached the base of the ramp. Teal'c watched her carefully, but - unlike Daniel - seemed unperturbed by whatever had pissed off the archaeologist. Jack started to use the intercom, then decided the hell with it and headed for the door.

He was halfway across the Gateroom when Teal'c met his eyes. For a split second he almost stumbled as he tried to read the expression that had flared in the Jaffa's eyes. For a moment, it had looked like pity. His stomach began to churn uneasily.

Teal'c inclined his head slowly. "The Council has been accused of the murder of Jacob Carter and an investigation has commenced. I am confident the outcome will be...pleasing. "

Jack's eyebrows flew northward. "That's good!"

Carter would not meet his eyes and she was holding herself unnaturally still.

Jack hesitated, his unease growing. He lowered his voice. "Permission to delay post procedures, Colonel. Grab a shower and something to eat first. The debrief can wait a bit."

She seemed to flinch slightly, then raised her head to look at him. For a moment she almost seemed afraid of him. Then something that looked a hell of a lot like regret passed over her face and she shook her head slowly. "There's something I need to tell you."

Jack straightened, eyes moving from Carter to Teal'c and back again. Again with the strange look of sympathy from Teal'c. A knee jerk response to stressful situations kicked his mouth into gear.

"Carter...you didn't kill anyone did you? Anyone we regret being dead, I mean?"

She flinched again, then whispered, "Only if you count SG-1, Sir."

* * *

She did not know how to tell him. 

Eight years. With a track record like that one, she would have thought that constancy meant something to her. Obviously she had been wrong. All this time waiting for her chance to command. To lead SG-1 and prove to herself that she was ready and she had thrown it all away. The hell with her team. The hell with her determination to provide back-up and support to the General for the next two decades of her life. He would never forgive her for this.

Never.

"Carter?"

Except for herself, Teal'c, and the two SFs, the briefing room was empty. Following her gaze to the security officers, the General waved SG-1 into his office closed the door.

"What's going on Colonel?"

Selmak was holding the spiraling grief at bay, but it would not last much longer. Her symbiote was grieving, and she could feel herself teetering on the brink of emotional collapse. She just had to get through this. She just had to survive the shock, the horror, and the disappointment. Of course, then he would want explanations. He would want to argue with her after he got done yelling at her for helping Selmak fake his death. He would want to know when Selmak planned to leave.

She did not know how to tell him.

"Selmak is not dead, O'Neill."

Jack glanced between the two of them, then jerked his head toward Teal'c, eyes widening. "You didn't...?" Then his shoulders stiffened as he read the truth in her silence. He turned toward her slowly. It was as bad as she feared. Shock and pain. Disbelief. But no anger. Not yet.

"Carter?" his tone was both demand and plea. Looking for an answer she could not give.

From the way he jerked, she knew her eyes must have flashed, her symbiote rushing to take over as her mind began to lose its grip on control. She felt her mouth open and then she felt her body freeze as his hand flew up in adamant rejection.

"Don't! Don't you say a damn word."

And there it was. She wondered vaguely how long it would take for this anger to turn to icy hatred. In a way it was better that she needed to leave. Of all the things she had ever possessed, his trust was the most valuable. She was not sure she would survive the proof she had lost it. She felt her arms move to clutch at her sides as Selmak unconsciously reacted to her internal distress. In spite of that, her symbiote was giving her the only gift he could. She would not cry. Not a single sound crossed her lips and her eyes remained dry. She licked her lips carefully as she exerted control. Not completely.

Just enough to lose the echo.

"According to the Tok'ra-Earth Treaty I have the right to take a symbiote when that symbiote is in immediate danger of loss of life. In accordance with section 32, subsection 12, with the full understanding of the situation, I voluntarily agreed to act as host for Selmak of the Tok'ra. Also in accordance with that treaty, we are advising my commanding officer of the situation."

"If I remember that part correctly Colonel,"he responded, the very flatness of his tone evidence of his fury," you were obligated to report the Blending as soon as it occurred or was reasonable."

Selmak could stop her from physically reacting.

He could not keep it from hurting.

"The danger to my symbiote was and is a real and ongoing threat. It was absolutely necessary for me to be present at the Memorial, both from a cultural perspective and as a chance to mitigate the danger. In my estimation, not telling you was the only way I could ensure I'd have permission to leave the planet." She held for a beat, then added deliberately, "General."

He was no longer Colonel O'Neill. Different jobs, different responsibilities. He was obligated to inform the Joint Chiefs of her new ... status. Had they panicked, he would have been obligated to hold her until they could determine what they were supposed to do with her. He did not have the luxury of refusing those orders.

She was now on the other side of the human-alien divide.

* * *

Jack meant to go to the gym and beat the stuffing out of the punching bag. 

He ended up in Daniel's office.

The archaeologist looked up from some papers he was busily sorting while Jack dodged the boxes on the floor with the ease of long practice and paced restlessly. Daniel did not stop what he was doing.

"How did it go?" Daniel asked, his tone suggesting he already knew the answer.

Jack threw himself into a chair. "Not well!"

He grabbed a book from the bench beside him, stared blindly at the cover for a few seconds, then tossed it back on the table with a growl. "She should have told me."

Daniel glanced at the stars on his uniform and grabbed another book.

"He asked her to save them." Daniel said finally.

"Selmak?"

Daniel shook his head. "Jacob."

Jack dropped his head in his hands. "Crap."

Daniel smiled bitterly. "It's what we do."

Jack uncoiled explosively. "We don't do this!"

Daniel gave a sharp bark of laughter. "What? We don't save the world? Save alien races? Put honor before happiness? Sorry Jack. That's exactly what we do." He threw the book he was holding into another box and then rested his hands on the desk. When he looked up, his eyes were pained. "I'm going with her."

Jack dropped back into the chair with a thud. Daniel fiddled with the paper trapped under the box he was filling.

"Just for a little while. Maybe longer. I don't know."

"Since when do the Tok'ra need an archaeologist, Daniel?" Jack snapped.

Daniel frowned. "They don't. But Sam needs a friend."

"What?" Jack knew his voice had lowered dangerously.

Daniel threw up his hands in frustration. "I don't know, okay? I have no idea what she plans to do. But I know she can't do it alone. At least, she shouldn't have to."

"They killed Jacob, Daniel."

"All the more reason."

"My ass."Jack leapt back to his feet. "All the more reason she stays here."

"Can you honestly think of anyone better to represent who we are to the Tok'ra?"

He wanted to ask Daniel if he had missed the point. Jack had already seen it. It showed in the unhesitating way Malek had snapped to attention when she had entered the room. The Tok'ra had volunteered to bring the latest news regarding the investigation into the Council's complicity in Jacob Carter's murder. His real interest was Carter.

Selmak had the experience, Carter had the military bad-ass. She also had eight years of SG-1 arrogance that said the System Lords were going down and she had the blown up suns and out-of-the box thinking to prove her point. She had saved too many worlds, reinvented too many rules, and just plain warped reality to her own satisfaction too many times to let the experience of a two-thousand-year-old snake intimidate her.

Seeing her with Malek, her unconscious assumption of command and Malek's instinctive reaction, Jack had seen a hint of what Selmak had tried to explain to him. The host made a difference. He also realized there was no going back. Unfortunately, it was the forward part that bothered him.

"She's the best symbol we have, Jack. She could represent everything we are here at the SGC. Scientist and military combined. She's also an officer. You know that's going to make a difference."

Jesus.

The archaeologist had no idea.

Jack smiled slightly, without humor. "She walks like Ba'al now, Daniel."

Daniel froze and Jack could practically see the concern as the linguist sorted through the subtext. Missing the point, because it was strategy Jack was worried about, not battle scars. Of all the System Lords he had met, Ba'al was the only one who had not walked as though continually attempting to draw attention to himself. He had not needed to. The sheer confidence in his posture had done it for him. Jack picked up a worn piece of rock and turned it carefully. Studying the pattern still visible on the surface.

He tossed the rock lightly, between his hands. It was not enough to be able to lead. People needed to want to follow. To have a reason to follow. Together, Carter and Selmak were everything the Tok'ra wanted to be. Scientist. Military.

Hero.

Oh hell, would they follow.

Daniel's eyes traced the direction of the rock as he worked that one out. Finally he looked at Jack and raised an eyebrow. "Should we feel sorry for the System Lords?"

Jack dropped the rock on the desk with a thump. "Oh yeah."


	4. Legacy 4

_Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay, folks. I was all set to post this on Saturday, then realized I didn't like the way it felt so I rewrote it. Symbiote/host thoughts are represented by bolded italics._

* * *

She deserved better than silence.

Selmak tried to defend him, but it was a half-hearted effort at best. Symbiotes were not exactly rational when their hosts were in pain, and some of the occasional thoughts crossing his mind involved pain sticks and hand devices. It would have been amusing if they had not had a dark thread of real anger woven into them. She was pissed enough for both of them and did not need any encouragement.

Really, what was he supposed to say?

She wavered between thinking eight years should have earned her more than a stilted public good-bye. Then she wondered if public was the only way he could do it and keep it somewhat civilized. Then she wondered if it had all just been something they invented all those years ago, something to convince themselves they were halfway normal. Last night, somewhere between a fifth of Jack Daniel's and Pete's horrified face she had started to laugh. The universe had a totally screwed up sense of humor she had decided. Selmak had been singing bawdy drinking songs in memory of Jacob and shouting out the chorus when Sam forgot the words. Halfway through one of them, Sam remembered that she had never heard these particular lyrics before, so it was one messed up drunk all the way around.

She still wasn't sure who had propositioned Pete.

She also had a nasty feeling they had been way too honest for everyone's mental health.

_**It could have been worse.**_ Selmak pointed out, a note of hope in his tone.

It was an experience, learning that one could glare balefully at the inside of one's eyelids. _**Which part?**_

About the only good part of the evening was the fact Pete had handcuffed her to the bed rail after Selmak had asked him how he felt about threesomes and before Sam could get up the nerve to march across town and corner General O'Neill and demand he apologize. Selmak's plan to tie Jack up so he could not run away had gotten mixed up with a vague fantasy Sam had realized with humiliation belonged to her.

Better handcuffed, than handcuffed and zatted.

"Sam?"

She cracked open one eye, then wished for the excuse of a hang-over to close them again. Daniel was looking at her with concern, and the last thing she needed was to start crying again.

"I tried to call you last night."

"Selmak and I had a wake for Dad." she admitted finally. Not the whole truth, but close enough.

"Oh."

She smiled weakly,"Do me a favor, Daniel."

He raised an eyebrow, then nodded in cautious acceptance and mute inquiry.

"Just remember that drunk symbiotes have no inhibitions. None."

Both eyebrows flew up. He opened his mouth, then hesitated. A slight frown gathered,"They can get drunk?" he asked with interest.

"If they want to." she mumbled.

Safer to get drunk and sing and yell for the pain everyone would forgive, than for the bleeding wounds no one knew anything about. The worst part was that there was one one to blame. Not the General. Not Selmak. Not even herself. They had done the best that they could, and they did what they had to do. So really...

What could she expect him to say?

**_How about,'I'll miss you'?_** Selmak growled.

Because if she had not been deluding herself, those words just might leave them all shattered on the Gateroom floor and Selmak knew it. So maybe he was right. Maybe this was the only way it could go down. Duty and honor. She could do that. She could hang on to that. Selmak could help her pick up the pieces after they got through the Gate.

She just wished...

She had never had a chance to tell him how much he meant to her. She wanted to say the words, just once, if only so she knew he knew. Even more, she regretted she had never told him when it was just the two of them. That opportunity was now lost forever. No matter how discreet, no matter how far into her consciousness Selmak pulled himself in an effort to give her some privacy, she would never just be Sam Carter ever again.

And telling him now would be more cruel than she was capable of being.

She had cried when Daniel had told her he was coming with her. Selmak had wisely offered nothing more than a warm flow of love and comfort that welled from someplace deep in her mind. Daniel had hesitated, then pulled her into an awkward hug. On any other day she might have resisted. That time, she chose to believe him when he said it would be all right. It was better than believing the alternative.

As a civilian, Daniel simply had to hand in his resignation. They were not sure what his exact status was now. The General had been MIA for the past several days and Colonel Dickson had loudly complained about the paperwork he had left in his wake. It was eerily familiar, reflecting similar complaints by one Colonel Jack O'Neill when Hammond had been called off-base. At the time she had thought he was joking.

Her own resignation was a formality. The Treaty allowed for the unconditional discharge of Blended military members given the right circumstances. General Hammond had already informed her that there shouldn't be a problem with her request.

Hammond and the Joint Chiefs had been curious about how she had managed to fool the Tok'ra about Selmak's death. There had been a body. She had not really known what to say. When Selmak and her father had known for sure that Jacob was dying, Selmak had spawned.

In the same way the Goa'uld who had taken over Major Kawalski would have regrown his severed body, Selmak grew a clone of himself. It was barely more complex than the skin shed by a snake, but it was enough to convince the Tok'ra he was dead. Selmak himself had not realized that he remembered how to do this until the memory asserted itself.

It had been dangerous.

The second self had budded from his body like a Siamese twin, absorbing nutrients and growing until the last moment. When he severed the connection between the two bodies, he had also severed his connection to her father. The mindless clone had instinctively taken his place, the Goa'uld physiology taking over to keep her father alive. Selmak had gone into a state of dormancy that allowed him to survive while she cut him free from her father's body. After repairing the damage with her father's healing device to hide the evidence, she had hidden Selmak in the vase of flowers and escaped to her quarters. By the time Daniel had found her, she had successfully Blended.

The cloned shell had perished with her father.

Aside from the shock and grief that normally accompanied the exchange of hosts, Selmak's cloning procedure had stirred up memories he had forgotten. Genetic knowledge that had been dormant for millennia started emerging in fits and flashes and disturbingly vivid dreams. He was still sorting through all of the implications and it was taking most of her strength of will to keep them from being swept away by the ancient history unraveling in their minds.

"Where's Jack?"

Daniel's voice yanked her attention back to the present.

"When I spoke with him last, he said he was 'tied up'," Teal'c said solemnly, seemingly unaware of Sam's sudden shock. The Jaffa frowned slightly as he pondered the literalness of that statement. "He requested that we not leave before his arrival, Daniel Jackson."

Teal'c had volunteered to see them through the Gate, and as the only one still a properly enlisted member of the Air Force, he was the only one truly entitled to wear the BDUs they were wearing. Technically, she should have worn civvies, but she wanted to feel what it was like to walk through the Gate as a member of SG-1 one last time. She would send the clothes back later, or they could take the cost out of her last paycheck. Daniel must have felt the same way because he showed up in familiar fatigues, carrying a black field pack carelessly over one shoulder. It felt strange not to see his unsecured tactical vest and she truly regretted the lack of the new protective inserts.

Before the feeling of impending loss could swamp her one more time, she was distracted by the nearest door rumbling open. For a split second, time rolled back as the General sauntered in dressed in full field gear.

Oh god, she had missed seeing him like this.

Not expecting the emotional upsurge, Selmak caught the full brunt of the feelings driving her and unintentionally amplified the effect as her emotions were echoed back through her connection with the symbiote. Even with his tired eyes, there was a jauntiness to the General's step she had not consciously realized he had lost until this moment.

Colonel Jack O'Neill had lived to step through the Gate.

The fact he was here to say good-bye did not diminish the fact that she got to see it one last time. He checked, eying her oddly, and she realized she was grinning at him.

"Carter," he said warily.

She felt her smile brighten and hoped like hell she did not look as ridiculous as she felt. "You're in uniform, Sir." Which really had to be the dumbest thing she had ever said, because he was almost always in uniform. But this time he was wearing the right uniform.

"Yes," he said suspiciously, obviously a bit baffled. "It happens occasionally." Then he swept the rest of SG-1 with a glance. "As are the rest of you. Luckily."

He held out two pieces of paper. One to Daniel and one to Teal'c. "You'll need these back."

"Jack?" Daniel frowned at the document. "You have to sign this."

Jack tilted his head. "As it happens, Daniel...no I don't. In fact..." He grabbed for both papers and whipped out a lighter.

Ignoring for the moment why he even had a lighter, Sam's eyes widened and she gestured rapidly for the Gate tech to hit the fire alarm override before the alarms tripped. Then she watched with morbid fascination as General O'Neill made sure the papers were fully engulfed in flames before dropping them to burn out harmlessly on the concrete floor.

Teal'c was coming with her.

The Jaffa returned her shocked gaze with a level one of his own and then inclined his head. There was no point in asking why. His loyalty to his people. His loyalty to SG-1. His loyalty to Earth, and in a strange, very personal way, she suspected, his loyalty to Jack.

The bonds and obligations of family.

Daniel had gotten over his initial annoyance at the General's high-handed destruction of his resignation and had realized what that second paper meant. His face had clouded over and he was chewing his lower lip worriedly as he watched General O'Neill stomp enthusiastically on the ashes. He lifted his head and sought her gaze, blue eyes pinwheeling with indecision.

She wanted to tell him to stay.

She wanted to tell him that this was no different than any other solo project. That Jack needed him more. The General did not deserve to lose all of them, not like this. She needed Teal'c and his Jaffa strength. His loyalty and quiet acceptance. It was that acceptance that was keeping her sane. Of all of them, he knew what it was like to be an alien among strangers. To have his own people look at him with suspicion and distrust.

She wanted to tell Daniel to stay.

She could not.

She needed him for the same reason Colonel O'Neill had needed him. She needed his passion for the truth, his determination to be more than just a soldier, and his fervent reminders that there were limits. That behind the numbers, the facts, there were people. To remind her to see the Jaffa with the eyes of a Tau'ri, not a Tok'ra. To be her conscience and her counselor and her friend.

She was going to need someone to remind her how to be human.

But Jack needed him more. She braced herself to tell him to stay when Daniel's eyes cleared and he shook his head firmly. When he glanced once at her, then at the Stargate and met her eyes again, she knew he had made his decision. He was going with her.

It was Selmak who finally noticed the extra people. Startled, Sam spun around to find the Gateroom filling with every SG team member this side of the Gate. They lined the walls in teams while techs and SFs and nurses filed into the Control Room and the Briefing Room above.

Up on the ramp, Siler and three techs began to hastily run cable and a microphone for the podium two SFs were carting into the Gateroom . An earsplitting squeal announced the sound was live and General O'Neill gestured for SG-1 to move to one side of the ramp. They complied, and watched curiously as he stepped up to the podium and shifted impatiently until the last tech finished connecting all the cables.

The Gateroom, which had been echoing loudly with curious murmurs and confused speculation, went silent as General Jack O'Neill looked around solemnly. His attire was not lost on anybody and there was more than one set of worried eyes, mostly from the younger team members.

"First, I want to thank everyone for getting here so quickly. I have a few official announcements to make, and some unofficial rumors to deal with. SG team leaders, there will be a full briefing later on today, so clear your schedules."

The General glanced at Sam and something in his expression caused her to stiffen warily.

Maybe he had not come to say good-bye after all.

"Nine days ago, General Jacob Carter died as a result of injuries received in the line of duty. The President has asked me to express his condolences to all who knew Jacob, and to reassure everyone that the circumstances causing his death will not be ignored."

Sam flinched mentally-although Selmak kept her outward expression calm-and the room went deadly quiet. No one looked shocked or surprised by the General's announcement. There were several speculative glances in her direction and the mood in the room shifted noticeably to cold anger as everyone waited for General O'Neill to tell them how they were going to react. Sam closed her eyes as Selmak's sudden despair threatened her composure. None of the soldiers had any doubts as to the General's likely reaction, and none of them looked inclined to protest.

"Jacob Carter was assassinated by a renegade faction of the Tok'ra specifically to sever ties between the Tok'ra and Earth."

At least he had called the assassins renegades, she thought bitterly.

Every soldier in the room held his breath, waiting to see if the next words would send them to war, this time with former allies.

"It's going to take a hell of a lot more than that." General O'Neill said quietly.

Her head snapped up in surprise and she found she was not the only one caught off guard by the General's statement. She found him watching the room with hooded eyes that darkened slightly when his gaze touched her.

"Anyone who knows me, is aware I have 'issues'," his fingers scribed quote marks in the air as he drawled the word," with the Tok'ra."

A faint chuckle traveled around the room, dry recognition of the General's understatement. Several of the more experienced SG personnel looked wary when the General did not join the laughter.

"What has not been said enough, is that in spite of our differences, the Tok'ra have been --and continue to be--a valuable ally," the General stated. "An ally, moreover, that the President and Joints Chiefs have made clear in no uncertain terms, that they wish to maintain."

People shifted slightly, some with tension and some in surprise. Whatever his own thoughts,the General simply waited a beat before continuing.

" In accordance with the Tok'ra Treaty, the President has designated Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter an essential asset in the war against the Goa'uld. In recognition of her patriotism, experience, and ability, the President has directed the immediate promotion of Lt. Colonel Cater to the rank and responsibilities of full Colonel in the US Air Force. By that same order, Colonel Carter is temporarily detached from the SGC and hereby directed to assume the title and responsibilities of Earth Liaison to the Tok'ra."

Sam just stared in shock.

The stunned realization that not only had her resignation been summarily refused but that the President had just--literally--declared her a National Asset was more than enough to overcome her shock at her unexpected promotion. Her mind went blank as her body went through the motions of accepting the promotion. The General's expression was inscrutable as he pinned on her insignia and led her through the oath-taking. She tried to reassess what this meant in terms of day to day reality.

What the hell was an Earth Liaison anyway?

The President and Joint Chiefs had just opened one hell of a can of worms she realized slowly and she was swept up in Selmak's analysis of the Council's reaction. The codicil to the Treaty they had just used gave the US military the same control over the symbiote as it maintained over the host. In theory, it had been intended to reassure the politicians that Tok'ra could not walk off with the President.

No one had actually expected to use it.

Nor, Selmak pointed out dryly, had the Tok'ra expected to have to deal with such an asset in person. The whole point was that the asset would not leave Earth. By denying her a chance to leave the USAF, Sam was still under obligation to the President, the Joint Chiefs, and the military.

The Tok'ra had recognized the possibility for misuse of the codicil and had demanded extremely strict and exacting standards as to what defined a National Asset. Sam realized with some annoyance that Selmak was highly amused by the fact that Daniel and Martouf had used Sam as their standard when they draw up the list. The Council would be hard-pressed to challenge the designation under the circumstances.

The only way out for Selmak was for him to find another host, and even Sam was taken aback by her symbiote's fierce rejection of that possibility. The relief she felt, though, was not unexpected. Whether it was a leftover from Jolinar or just loneliness, the symbiote filled a gaping hole in her mind she had not even realized was empty. For the first time in years, she felt whole.

The Council would take her symbiote over her dead body.

Selmak's hesitant pleasure as he tasted her own commitment changed to pure joy as she gave him a mental hug. She was about to explore his impressions of the Council's reaction a bit further when she realized that they had reached the end of the ceremony. She took her place beside SG-1 again and waited as the General allowed the murmurs and polite applause to die away.

"The President has also authorized the detachment of SG-1, under command of Colonel Carter to act as support while in performance of her duties as Earth Liaison."

Ah...

What?

While it was nice of the military to pay the members of SG-1 for something they were planning to do anyway, Sam narrowed her eyes as she considered the fact she had just acquired two official bodyguards. Worse, she had the sinking feeling General O'Neill would have several equally official orders that were going to have the guys seriously dogging her shadow. She scowled as she realized that there was nothing she could do about it either.

From the glint in the General's eye, he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Any hint of humor drained from the General's expression as he regarded the soldiers watching him. He hesitated, then spoke slowly, his voice deepening with sincerity and seriousness.

"I have been privileged to serve as the commanding officer of this base. Your patriotism, courage, and commitment has at times been both heroic and inspiring, but at no times has it been surprising. You ARE the front-line for this planet. You are the reason this planet is still here, and the Goa'uld are not.

However, with the recent death of General Jacob Carter it has become clear to both the President and the Pentagon that our ability to respond to offworld events is constrained by the ability of our offworld allies to get information to us in a timely manner. So, rather than expecting our allies to come to the mountain, we're taking the mountain to them."

General O'Neill's lips quirked slightly, then smoothed out and he nodded slightly, acknowledging the looks of realization dawning around the room.

"In order to assist with the coordination of Alliance activities, the President has directed me to assume the responsibilities of Offworld Military Liaison. The primary responsibility of that office will be to coordinate with our offworld allies, and provide the President and the Pentagon with a timely and unbiased source of information about the state of offworld affairs. Specific details will be relayed in your briefings later. Therefore, it is with both regret and confidence, that I officially turn control of the SGC over to your new commanding officer...

... Major General Hank Landry."


	5. Legacy 5

He'd been prepared to go through the Gate immediately. Truthfully, it would have made things easier. Jack studied the Gate through the briefing room window and sighed. Predictably, the Tok'ra had requested a meeting at the SGC to discuss the situation once they heard about the additions to Sam's original party of two. Then there had been all the equipment Carter had decided was absolutely essential now that she was still a serving member of the military. Guess she figured the USAF owed her a couple of laptops. Daniel's eyes had brightened manically when he discovered that Sam had the ability to authorize the contents of his library as essential items and Jack had morbidly wondered what would happen when Carter realized that Landry was prepared to rubber-stamp any semi-reasonable supply request from the new Tok'ra Liaison.

Although, considering the two overburdoned FREDs undergoing last minute checks in the Gateroom, she might have already figured it out.

Malek and Thoran had been the two Tok'ra representatives sent to discuss the new arrangements. Jack had hoped to get a solid read of their feelings about the President's demands regarding Carter, but in spite of several sarcastic comments that would have had Mother Theresa taking a swing at him, both Tok'ra had stayed eerily non-reactive. Either the new Council was still feeling guilty about the death of Selmak's previous host, or the shit was about hit the fan in a major way, because the President had just pulled the pin on a honking big political hand-grenade.

Sadly, Jack was feeling far too acquainted with those realities these days.

"O'Neill?"

For a moment, Jack was tempted to pretend he had gone temporarily deaf. Or maybe there was some sort of disaster that needed his attention. Emergency in the supply room? Reluctantly, he turned around. Teal'c was watching him solemnly from the other side of the table. He was not going to ask, Jack told himself. He was not going to ask. He was not going to ask. He was NOT...

"What in the hell made you think it would be a good idea to stuff a snake in your head?"

Teal'c just continued to stare at him with fathomless eyes. His body language was guarded.

Jack sighed,"Teal'c, buddy. I know you have this whole Jaffa Master mind-reading thing going, but I skipped class that day."

For a moment, Jack was certain his friend had almost smiled. Then Teal'c bowed.

"I wish to beg your forgiveness for hurting you, my friend."

After all these years, it still surprised Jack that a man who spoke so little could be so emotionally open. He envied him that ability some days, so much it was painful. Usually those were the days when Carter or Daniel sliced themselves open on the sharp side of his tongue. Worse, much as he sometimes wished it were different, he had no illusions. The military had not created his personality out of thin air. It had just honed it.

There was a difference between would not talk, and could not.

It was a tangled mess of emotions that screwed with his equilibrium as memory attacked. He tasted again the burnt ashes and emptiness that had filled him as he had sat at that big desk and held three pieces of paper that represented the larger part of his soul. Three pieces that were leaving him behind. Leaving him trapped in the only place duty and honor had left him. Carter, he could accept. Sam had left him already and Carter...well every good officer knew there came a time your baby birds left the nest and trooped off to war on their own. It was the unspoken price of command that a piece of your broken heart went with them.

Daniel...

That hurt. That hurt a lot. But if anyone could remind the Tok'ra what they were supposed to be, it was Daniel. He had had a lot of practice. But every instinct screamed at Jack to go with them. This was not another mission. Without him to watch their backs, they would never come back. He truly believed that. Jack made his decision the minute Daniel had told Jack his.

Six months.

Six months to get things wrapped up at the SGC, to put his plans in place, and Jack would be able to follow them.

Then Teal'c had resigned. Had stated in black and white his intention to go where Jack could not and for one moment, Jack had hated him for that. Had hated Carter for wrapping her team around her and leaving him behind. But mostly he had hated Jacob for dying and leaving Selmak alive.

Because Jack was not allowed to hate Selmak.

He was not allowed to hate Selmak for choosing Carter as his host. He was not allowed to hate Selmak for needing to be a warrior instead of a politician. He was not allowed to hate the snake for being two thousand years old with lifetimes of lives and loves behind him that made Jack O'Neill just one of hundreds when he was used to being the most important thing in her world. Even Pete had never threatened his place in her life. Selmak had taken that without intent and Jack...was not allowed to hate him for it.

Safe was why she trusted him. Safe was why she had loved him, even if only a little.

And Jack O'Neill was not safe when he hated without forgiveness.

So he handed in his resignation. Then, when the President refused him outright, Jack had flown to Washington and told him the truth. Spilled his guts right there on the floor of the Oval office in front of General Vidrine, the President and half a dozen security cameras. The day the SGC received word they were dead, Jack O'Neill was going home to put a bullet in his head. Maybe sooner if the Tok'ra dragged out the process of getting his team killed. He had half expected to be carted off to see MacKenzie.

If presidents disliked ultimatums, they liked unstable Generals even less.

Instead, the President had watched Jack through narrowed eyes for a full sixty seconds, then asked how certain Jack was that SG-1 was vulnerable. Jack had swallowed his surprise and handed the President his analysis on the situation. Selmak should never have been on the front lines. Whether that was a result or not of his Blending with Jacob Carter was moot, the point was that the Council had let him go. Either the Tok'ra had a dangerously low number of operatives with experience in guerrilla warfare, or they had hoped Selmak would get himself killed. Or both.

Either situation left Carter vulnerable and with skills the Council might want to use.

Badly.

Declaring Carter a National Asset meant that the Tok'ra could not risk her unnecessarily. In fact, by Treaty they were obligated to do everything in their power to protect her. As a serving member in the military, the USAF could assign SG-1 to her with impunity and the only choice the Council would have to prevent it would be to deny Selmak access to the base. Given how the Tok'ra had responded to the assassination attempt, Jack was certain the Council would not be willing to risk the fallout if they exiled the symbiote. Especially if they needed the military experience as badly as Jack was beginning to think they did.

Truthfully, he had been so busy outlining his plans for Carter that he had not put much thought into his own position beyond retired. When General Vidrine had asked him about his plans, he had just said something about training any Tok'ra interested in Tau'ri insurrectionist techniques. It had not been a stretch. He had spent a few years doing just that in countries almost as hot as Vorash had been. Wetter though. With more trees. He had pointed out that Earth really needed someone Johnny-on-the-spot, because too many military decisions were being made after their allies had already decided what to do. Someone with a better idea of what the Tau'ri were capable of doing might be able to help the Alliance put together slightly more cohesive battle plans.

Vidrine had frowned, then looked over at the assembled Joint Chiefs and one of them had sighed, and another had coughed. Vidrine had snorted without amusement and asked Jack to step outside while they discussed the matter. He had come back fifteen minutes later to find out he still had a job, which should have surprised him, but somehow didn't. The fact the details were so solid made him suspect the position of Offworld Military Liasion--if not the person in it-- had already been discussed. Carter and Selmak had given the Pentagon a window of opportunity and they were taking it.

There had been a note of irony in the President's voice as he gave Jack his orders, but none of the resentment Jack might have expected. Instead, there had been a shade of gratitude he had not comprehended. Now, looking at Teal'c, he finally understood. While Jack had told the truth about what would happen if his team were killed, he had not told the whole truth. He had not told them that it would never get to that point. Jack O'Neill did not need any man's permission to leave this planet. Between his own knowledge of the Stargate, the Jaffa, the Tok'ra, and the Asgard, Jack had more ways off this planet than most men had methods to buy groceries. Earth held him only as long as he allowed it to.

He had not expected the President to miss that part of the unspoken threat, but if he were honest, he had expected it to be one more reason the Pentagon would have against him. One more reason that General Jack O'Neill was less trustworthy than Colonel O'Neill had ever been capable of being. Oddly, staring at Teal'c, he finally understood that in many ways it meant he was more. Colonel O'Neill would have run so he could not be stopped. General O'Neill had known he could not be...and had given the Pentagon and the President the opportunity to continue to hold his oath of loyalty. A gift, power withheld, not insult. But not precisely military.

That they valued that gift told him they were worthy of his respect.

It...was something to think about.

Without mockery, he held Teal'c's gaze and inclined his head in the deepest expression of respect he understood. Something flared for a moment, and if eyes could smile, Teal'c smiled. Jack still did not have the words, but, not for the first time, he knew he did not need them. Eight years and a hell of a lot of change between them.

Maybe between them, two old warriors could become the men the universe needed them to be.


	6. Egeria's Promise 1

A/N:Here's where things change. Originally, this story ended with them all walking through the Stargate together at the end of Jack's speech. The Sam/Jack relationship was left to the imagination because that wasn't precisely the point of this story. (It was a pilot episode for a serial novelization). After rereading what I've posted and seeing what people want to know, this just doesn't sit right, so I'm going to continue writing the next few episodes of that original series as serial chapters and see where it goes. However, although everything is stepped out and plotted, it's not written, so postings may be further apart-especially since I'm also dusting off and finishing some old unfinished WIPs.

So... here's part 1 of episode 2.

* * *

The new Tok'ra homeworld was so remote and unwanted, no one had cared enough to give it a name. 

Not even the Tok'ra.

Behind her Sam could hear Daniel cursing softly as the FRED he and Teal'c were guiding lost traction in the silica sand burning beneath their feet. She heard the wheels spin furiously, then a grunt as Teal'c got his shoulder into the back end and pushed. Up ahead, Malek's shoulders tightened but he kept slogging forward, watching the homing device in his hand carefully. Before she could turn to see how Daniel and Teal'c were doing she heard the tell-tale whine that signified her own FRED was about to lose traction.

Selmak gave the FRED a careful push, just enough to keep the FRED on track and pondered the deteriorating situation. When he had met them at the Gate, Malek had warned them the FREDs would have problems. General O'Neill had nodded sharply, then issued rapid orders, breaking the four of them into pairs and leaving Malek holding the tracking device. Sam was still adjusting to processing two sets of memories and was fumbling with Selmak's knowledge of Malek's hesitation when General O'Neill started walking. By the time she had understood that Malek had wanted to protest it was too late.

Dark sunglasses with full wrap-around sides were keeping them from going blind as the bright sunlight splintered and rebounded with a dazzling white heat that slammed off the planet's unforgiving surface. The glassy sand hissed and crackled as it shattered, then gave way treacherously under their weight. As the hours lengthened, Sam could feel her teammates tiring as the planet dragged at their legs, the heat sapping their strength, and their growing exhaustion pulling them down. Selmak had already healed several paper-thin slices the crystalline sand had scored across Sam's hands and Sam could smell the blood on her friends. The light cloth that everyone wrapped around their heads protected most of their skin from the UV radiation and kept the air they were breathing moist enough to keep their lungs from being dry-fried, but Sam found that the layer of hot, stale air trapped against her face made breathing a misery. It was almost alive, a thick presence that had her body protesting in near-panic that she was drowning. There wasn't enough air and her ribs ached for trying.

Teal'c, with his darker coloring was less vulnerable to the angry burn spreading across O'Neill's cheekbones where goggles did not quite meet cloth. Unfortunately, the larger Jaffa had almost twice as much bulk as his human teammates without a proportionate increase in the surface area of his skin. Both he and Dr. Jackson were generating more heat energy as a result of that extra muscle mass than their lankier companions, with the Jaffa being the most problematic. On a more temperate world, it might have been an advantage. Here, it was potentially deadly.

Worse, both of the more muscular males were heavier and more top-heavy than either Samantha or O'Neill, making it harder for them to maintain their balance in the loose footing. O'Neill had made amistake when he paired Teal'c with Dr. Jackson. While Samantha understood his instinctive response to average out the strength of the group by pairing physically strongest with physically weakest, and admired the lack of ego with which he had unhesitatingly done so, he had failed tocomprehend the advantages that Tok'ra physiology provided.

Enhanced hearing and faster reaction times enabled them to anticipate lost traction, and push the FRED onto a firmer track before it bogged down dangerously. As a result, less energy was required and less metabolic heat was produced. Samantha's lower center of gravity compared to her male companions only decreased the level of exertion she required to remain upright and mobile. This inequality of effort had created a noticeable variation in the physical well-being of the group.

Daniel slipped again and his pained gasp broke what was left of their patience. Before they could protest however, the General stopped, the FRED shuddering to a halt beside him. Behind them, they heard the soft whine as Teal'c powered down the second FRED and then there was only silence and the labored breathing of the two men most endangered by O'Neill's error in judgment.

"This is foolishness."

Before they could stop him, Malek stalked toward O'Neill, his ease of balance on the slippery footing an insult when held against the weary postures of the men leaning against the FRED, sucking in gasps of heated air.

'Would you see them dead over foolish pride O'Neill?" Malek demanded, his fists clenched tightly.

Sam cringed. "He did not know, Malek."

Malek glared at her."He does not ask!"

"I did not think to tell him." Sam fired back.

Malek waved away her words."You are zi'shahn," he said dismissively.

Selmak glared at him, horribly certain that O'Neill's silence would not hold much longer and equally certain that O'Neill had no understanding that Malek's hands were not clenched in anger, but to keep them from shaking.

"They are all zi'shahn, Malek. You know this," Selmak said pointedly.

Malek opened his mouth to protest, then whirled and stalked away. He stopped before he got out of shouting range, but his affront was clear to even Tau'ri. Or not. O'Neill was still standing in silence although they could smell the anger shimmering off him. Shame and guilt uncoiled. This was their fault. They had failed to speak. Initially, yes. They could blame zi'shahn. Afterwards, however, it had been pride and fear which had driven them.

They dropped their head and stared at the sand as they tried to figure out a way to explain. O'Neill had a System Lord's patience with cultural misunderstandings...and none for the Tok'ra. Pain and familiar annoyance with his attitude competed with guilt, then shriveled and died. O'Neill was not the issue.It had been their responsibility to bring the problem to his attention as soon as they had understood. It was their own fear of his reaction that had brought them to this point. But how to explain when his anger and guilt at his friends' pain would prevent him from listening?

"Carter...?" O'Neill's tone was clipped.

Sam shifted reluctantly, furtive grief trying to delay the inevitable.Her shoulders steadied abruptly and they raised their head proudly. Enough.

"This is my fault, Sir."

"I think I got that part." O'Neill said quietly."What I want to know is why."

No... he really didn't. That was the thought foremost in Samantha's mind as she clenched her own fist.

"Malek would have volunteered to help, back at the Gate. He knew what the sand was going to be like. But when you ordered us out, he was afraid you would see an offer as either an insult or a challenge."

O'Neill placed his hands on his hips, impatience in every line of his body. "Carter, this desert makes the Gobi look like Disneyland, the water in my canteen is three degrees short of boiling, what skin isn't burned is bleeding, and my knees and hips feel like someone is driving spikes through them. Are you seriously trying to tell me he was worried about being rude?"he asked incredulously.

Before she could answer, Teal'c straightened. Although he was in obvious pain, the rest had restored him somewhat.

"There are many cultures where such an attempt would result in a challenge O'Neill. To offer after he had already informed you of the difficulty involved would have implied that he did not believe Humans or Jaffa to be as physically capable as Tok'ra."

O'Neill snorted, then jerked a thumb in their direction, surprising Selmak. "Well, d'uh."

Selmak was startled to smell amusement from the Jaffa. Nor did Samantha seem surprised by O'Neill's reaction. Before that conclusion could be examined further, Samantha drew a deep breath."To offer after you had made your decision would have implied that you had made an error in judgment, Sir."

"My ego is not that touchy, Carter."

"It seems that way to the Tok'ra, Sir." Samantha said, then she hesitated as Selmak amended the explaination.

" Malek reacts as his biology informs him and his host does nothing to counteract that reaction, "Selmak said slowly." Kevyn is from a feudal world recently reacquired by the Goa'uld. He was sixteen when he Blended. A man by his own people's standards, but a child nonetheless, and taken at a time when he would have been searching for role models." Selmak waved a hand to take in the empty desert."The Tok'ra way of life has little in the way of the familiar. To his eyes, the Tau'ri military and the Jaffa are much more understandable. And in his world, you do not question the decisions of those above you in station. To do so would be a grave error in etiquette. Kevyn was deeply shamed by the need to abandon Bra'tak when the Ash'rak attacked. He is desperate not to give further insult."

Selmak did not add that Kevyn's natural inclination to hero worship had been exacerbated by Malek's biological reaction to O'Neill's instinctive assumption of command. That was a situation doomed to disaster and Selmak did not want to add to the problem. Malek was not a fool. He was as aware of the problem as any, including the Council. Unfortunately, Selmak thought with morbid humor, knowledge of their own biological reality did not provide a solution. The Tok'ra could only hope to adjust as they learned to interact with the Tau'ri on a regular basis.

"So...what? I'm supposed to apologize?" O'Neill demanded, his tone indicating that there had better be a different solution.

"God, no." Samantha said in horror, reacting to Selmak without thought.

O'Neill slowly reached out and lifted the goggles away from their face. Selmak automatically adjusted for the light level and after a moment of frantic blinking they were able to see with an acceptable margin of difficulty. There was a long moment while he studied them from the safety of his own goggles. He did not attempt to remove them and Samantha squashed an uncomplimentary reaction to that fact.

"I'm still waiting to hear why this is your fault," O'Neill said finally.

When Samantha did not answer immediately, O'Neill turned his head toward Dr. Jackson. "Zee Shawn?" he asked, surprising Samantha with his almost accurate pronunciation.

Dr. Jackson tilted his head slightly. "Direct translation? State of Confusion. But there's a limiter on it, implying that it's a temporary condition so a more accurate translation might be 'Time of Confusion'. In context I would guess it has something to do with a new Blending."

Selmak nodded,"That is accurate, Dr. Jackson. While the Blending is physically complete, there is...a period of adjustment, as the symbiote and host learn to control the Blending together. Under normal circumstances, this is relatively easy as by necessity the symbiote is usually the dominant partner and will normally be familiar with the side effects and the Tok'ra around them will usually be familiar to the symbiote and their familiarity generally makes the transition easier."

A hint of fear, then the scent of anger tightly controlled emanated from O'Neill and Samantha was warning Selmak to be careful. Confused, Selmak fumbled for the reason for her concern, but even Samantha was uncertain of the exact reasons for her caution. There were images Selmak did not understand, negative emotions and a suggestions of conspiracy and secrecy before O'Neill was moving into Samantha's personal space. He was measurably larger than Samantha, but not enough to justify the sudden awareness of threat Selmak was receiving from Samantha, especially lacking as it did any hint of physical fear.

O'Neill moved until a shadow fell across Samantha's face and the brightest of the sun's glare was no longer in his eyes. He pushed the goggles onto his forehead and soft brown eyes were staring down at her in concern. Selmak swayed as Samantha's emotions rippled through them and it took every particle of will not to lean forward and curl up into that concern. To pretend everything was going to be okay because he had told them it was going to be.

"Sounds exhausting," he said softly, lifting a hand to their face and tracing fingers lightly across one cheekbone. They shivered and he leaned closer, gaze intent and unwavering.

"It'll be okay," he promised quietly. "We'll help. That's what you need right? Help practicing your responses. Two people fighting for control all the time." he smiled lop-lopsidedly,"must be pretty crowded in there right about now."

Samantha was still trying to tell herself to be wary but it was a small concern, lost in the relief she felt at the fact he was not turning away from them. Was not rejecting them for the fact that he could no longer trust Carter to be Carter. Selmak wanted to be more suspicious, but it had been a long time since there had been this feeling of trust, of the certainty of succor from another and neither Samantha nor Selmak resisted when his hand worked its way to her temple.Their eyes closed and with relief came the weakness of tears.

He wasn't going to leave them behind.

They were so tired. Images flashed in memory. The confidence in scared eyes and the terror that this time her genius would not be enough to save them. The suspicion as line siblings refused to accept the changes that Egeria had foreseen but forgotten to consider in terms of practical application. The nightmares as the Tok'ra slipped further and further away. Uncomplicated admiration from Pete had alternately salved and infuriated. His declarations of love had increasingly left a hollow certainty that she was not willing to pay the price demanded to claim it. At the time, Samantha had worried about how Pete would react when he discovered exactly who and what she truly was. Not some cartoon superhero. Just a woman who had spent too many pieces of her soul, and who could not be who he needed her to be.

It had taken her too long to realize he could not be who she needed him to be, either.

They shivered as O'Neill worked his fingers into their hair, combing and stroking softly. Their eyes drifted shut and they leaned into the rhythm.

"Just tell us what you need," he murmured gently, fingers rubbing soothingly across the back of their neck. Selmak shuddered, then sighed as he paused momentarily, then began massaging the base of their neck carefully. They pressed their face against his chest and finally allowed themselves to relax.

"It is hard," they admitted quietly,"to balance two personalities."

They waited fearfully for him to tense, to thrust them away when he realized that he could no longer trust Samantha to react like Samantha. Instead, he simple rubbed his hand across the back of their neck and they did not have the courage to tell him what he was promising with that touch. Perhaps someday...

"We should have told you about Malek, but we were afraid you would not understand," they said finally."There is not always time to consider reactions. The glass falls and it is acceptable to react. To attempt to catch it. Then there are times when one personality must dominate. Yet our lives are not primarily spent thus. We must learn to react as one. To learn where reflex competes. Normally, this means the host must learn to think as Tok'ra. Our operatives live among the Goa'uld. To fall out of character is deadly. We cannot afford discord. We surround the host with Tok'ra and zi'shahn is spent learning to react as we must."

"Conditioning," he said flatly.

Knowledge without comprehension of the emotional connotations flashed from Samantha's mind and Selmak nodded before Samantha could stop the motion. It was then that Selmak realized their weakness had damned them. There was no surprise in hard brown eyes when O'Neill gripped their upper arms and pushed them away from him. They realized then that he had not been looking for information, simply confirmation. Samantha understood first, while Selmak was slower to understand the betrayal.

"Know thy enemy, Sir?" Samantha asked bitterly.

He did not flinch. "Always, Colonel." Then he twisted on one heel and was shouting for Malek to help Daniel.

They watched him walk away, emotions darting in too many directions to react otherwise.

Teal'c was directed to assist Selmak and Malek did not protest when O'Neill demanded to be shown how to use the homing device. The Jaffa was impassive, body language obscured beneath fatigues and sand veils. Dr. Jackson's scent was embarrassed and they realized that their humiliation had not gone unnoticed. Samantha's memories were bitterly clear that no one had missed the fact that more than comfort had passed between O'Neill and the Tok'ra Liaison. Dr. Jackson knew they had been played...and he knew why it had succeeded. Daniel had always hated the Goa'uld more and understood the Tok'ra better than the rest of SG-1. O'Neill's actions would only have confirmed his worries.

The worst part, was that neither Samantha nor Selmak could tell them that they were wrong.


	7. Egeria's Promise 2

A/N: okay, shorter update than I meant to do, but a lot happens in the next chapter and I needed a natural break. Thanks to all the people who took the time to review. I'm sorry that I don't have the time to respond individually to everyone, but I do pay attention to the questions.

I don't take offense at any honest reaction to the story and whether I agree with the comments or not, nothing I've seen has begun to approach flame status or offended me in any way. Actually, strong emotional reactions to the story are a compliment! So no worries huh? I'm just glad people enjoy the story enough to tell me what they feel about it.

The story line will eventually be Sam/Jack although genfic readers should be okay with it depending on their tolerance level. I adore Jack as a character, lol, but he's complicated. In my world, Jack never does anything without a reason and he's a master strategist. More on that later. Hopefully, you'll like where I take him.

That's about all I can say without giving anything away. I will say that things will start coming together in a few more chapters. Right now, I'm still setting things up.

Cheers!

Bearcub

* * *

Daniel was vaguely aware he should feel grateful. Malek's assistance had left Daniel little to do except stagger along beside the FRED and pray for death. Water ran a close second, but water would mean he was still alive and alive meant he had to keep moving. Damn desert planets. He was the fucking archaeologist. He liked desert planets.

So why was this one trying to kill him?

His skin burned, even under the BDUs. He could barely see. He couldn't breath. The sand had worked its way into his clothes and his inner thighs were chafed with the worst case of jock itch he had ever experienced. Even worse than the three day slog through that swamp on P8X...P8X...

That place.

The hell with the macho bullshit. He was going to pass out now. Malek could throw him on top of the FRED or leave him where he fell. Daniel didn't much care at the moment.Gads, if this heat would just STOP.

"Stop."

It took Daniel a moment to realize he hadn't been the one to speak. Which was good. Really good. If he was hallucinating, Jack would forgive him if he fell over.Daniel blinked and peered blurrily through his sunglasses. He had removed his contacts hours ago after getting worried they would melt to his eyeballs. The fuzzy blur that represented Malek moved forward with an easy stride that made Daniel want to grind his teeth. At least this time it wasn't Teal'c or Jack. For once, the two older men were almost as wrecked as he was.

Oh who the hell was he kidding?

Jack would never forgive him unless he crawled after them, slashing his fingers to bloody ribbons. Then he would be expected to spit Death in the eye. Frankly, at this point, Daniel would fall sobbing at the specter's feet after hugging it like a long lost brother. Of course, if it was a Goa'uld, he would probably end up in a sarcophagus and he supposed he could spit in its face later. Sometime between heat exhaustion and torture and...

"Dr Jackson?"

They had met Cronus. If he existed, there must have been a Thanatos. True, they were the older gods and now that he thought about it, they had not really had their own Grecian cults had they? But Ba'al had taken the name of one of his predecessors, so it would only make sense that some Goa'uld somewhere would want to take on the personification of Death.

"Daniel?"

Not now, Jack. I'm thinking.

Okay, so...where was he? Oh yeah. Death. Come to think of it, none of the old personification deities seemed to be around, and yet they weren't that old. Or, wait. The stories of them were not that old. Well damn, Jackson. You really are an idiot sometimes, aren't you? Two thousand years ago is just about when Sam figures the Antarctic Gate was last active. The Goa'uld on Earth were cut off from the rest of the Empire. It was news, Jackson. Information tracked back through the Gate after centuries of change. There weren't any centers of worship because those Goa'uld never visited the planet.

Where was he?

"Who was Nyx?"

Malek's eyes widened slightly in startlement, but he didn't seem offended. Just surprised.

"She was the first Goa'uld queen to take a human host," Malek said promptly.

Well that made sense. Maybe. Unas were big on names that meant something. That would explain the switch from personifying environmental concepts like Death and Strife to cultural abstracts. Plus, the old line had never really allied itself to the new line, something that also made sense if the Goa'uld reality was a switch from Unas to human hosts. Still, he was forgetting something. Something important.

"Daniel?"

"This is important, Jack."

Jack sighed, and when he spoke, his voice was annoyingly gentle. "What's important?"

I'm not crazy, Jack.

Daniel reconsidered that statement. Okay, so maybe he was a little sun-crazy. But this was still important.

"Gaia was Unas," Daniel stated confidently. He knew he was right when Malek just shrugged when Jack looked at him for confirmation. "She was Unas," Daniel said again, frustrated when no one reacted.

Didn't they see?

"See what, Daniel Jackson?"

Oops, must have said that out loud. Sorry Teal'c.

"Sam?" He swivelled his head, relaxing only when she appeared in front of him. He grabbed for her hand, missed and caught the front of her BDUs. He tightened his grip on the fabric. "The Unas were the first hosts. The first gods," he said, the words falling over themselves as he tried to get to the point. "The primordial gods were parthenogenic, Sam."

He stared into her eyes, willing her to understand. It was so clear. He was about to explain when a whooshing noise off to his right distracted him. Four Tok'ra appeared in a set of rings and before he could protest, Teal'c and Jack were leading him over. He stared across the burning expanse of nothingness that extended as far as he could see. He blinked at Jack.

"Good thing the homing device worked."

Jack snorted, then prodded him into the circle. Daniel went willingly. Water had just moved to the head of his list. As he turned though, he caught sight of Sam's worried expression and remembered what he had been about to tell her.

"Anubis copied Pangar!"he shouted, just before the rings activated.

It was his last conscious thought.

* * *

"Christ Daniel. Fire and fall back why don't ya?" Jack said with disgust.

The Tok'ra with them had already jumped hastily out of the way, no doubt familiar with the effect the rings and sudden temperature drop had on parboiled humans. Daniel groaned as he rolled away from Jack's boots and passed out.

"Damn it, Daniel. You are sooo going to owe me for this." Jack muttered as he gingerly unlaced his boots, trying to avoid poking his fingers in the mess liberally spattering both his boots and the crystalline floor. If he was lucky, the Tok'ra had the equivilent of a Gateroom clean-up crew. However, he doubted they would be happy with him if he tracked regurgitated protein bar through the tunnels. If he could smell it...

Actually, given that none of the sand had transported down with them, maybe everything would get transported back upstairs and left there when Carter activated the rings. He could retrieve his boots later. Although, if he rematerialized barefoot in the middle of a pile of Daniel vomit, Carter was going to be short one archeologist.

Teal'c had already levered Daniel over one shoulder when one of the Tok'ra bowed slightly and gestured for them to follow. Ignoring the ridiculous picture he probably made padding along in his sock feet, Jack prayed they were heading for the Tok'ra equivalent of the infirmary. Right now, he needed aspirin, water, and a healing device - in that order. Soon to be followed by twenty-four hours of sleep. And clean socks. His current footwear probably didn't quite qualify as a weapon of mass destruction, but he had a feeling none of the enhanced humans were going to appreciate military eau de nachos.

Expecting a blueish-purple version of the SGC Infirmary, Jack was startled when they were shown into a largish room exploding with greenery. After the searing heat of the desert above, and the sterile neatness of the tunnels, the cool humidity was an almost painful shock to oversensitive nerves. Involuntarily, Jack drew in a deep breath, savoring the scent of the air. His brain knew it was just as recycled as the air in the SGC, but it smelled wet and green and cool like the understory in a jungle after a hard morning rain. He turned his head, instinctively seeking the light splash of running water and found an indoor waterfall carved from blue and purple crystal. A tranquil green pool--not unlike the ones that had greeted SG-1 when they had first met the Tok'ra--shimmered in the far right corner of the room. Unlike those first pools, this was set into the floor, the smooth surface unaffected by the waterfall cascading into a second pool extruded from the wall above it.

Jack narrowed his eyes as he took another look around.

More extrusions extended from the walls, clearly benches of some sort. However, gone were the clean, sterile edges the Tok'ra seemed to prefer. Everywhere he looked, nooks and crannies extruded from the walls and sprouted greenery of some kind. More extrusions along the wall to his right looked an awful lot like the kind of long table that could hold a buffet - or double as computer workstations. In the center of the space holding the waterfall, a low square table gleamed beneath soft recessed lighting. To his left, the wall was broken by a doorway leading into a smaller room, less shrouded in greenery and holding on a single table surrounded by the normal triangular-backed chairs the Tok'ra preferred.

Their Tok'ra guide bowed slightly. "Malek and Sel...Major Carter will be with you shortly."

Jack watched him walk out of the room, then looked around the room in disbelief.

"I do not believe this is the Infirmary, O'Neill," Teal'c said finally.

"Got that," Jack replied absently.

Teal'c carefully lowered Daniel to one of the benches, checking his pulse. After a minute, the Jaffa nodded with satisfaction and rearranged Daniel's hands across his stomach before rejoining Jack in studying their surroundings. An opening in the wall straight ahead clearly led into more rooms beyond, but for some reason Jack was reluctant to explore further until all of his team was present. Soft footfalls behind him reassured him that he wouldn't have to wait long. He turned just in time to catch sight of Carter's face as she stepped into the room. She froze midstep.

"Holy..." her jaw literally sagged, confirming Jack's suspicion that this was not normal Tok'ra civil engineering."Wow," she finished weakly.

Malek's eyes were watchful as he moved past Jack and led the way into the passageway beyond.

"We were not certain we could get it all grown in time,"Malek said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice.

Sam blinked, then looked around cautiously.

"Grow what,Malek?" Selmak asked.

"The first official Tau'ri Embassy," Malek said politely.


	8. Egeria's Promise 3

Selmak was not amused.

Energy consumption was always a concern. The Tok'ra had limited resources and the cutthroat politics behind project approval made the SGC budget wars look like mere kindergarten skirmishes. Someone - probably Malek - had done some seriously Machiavellian negotiating to get a project like this approved. Sam gazed in wonder as Malek showed the conscious members of SG-1 how to adjust the forcefields protecting the entries to their individual quarters. They were modified versions of the fields used to contain volatile experiments and while Sam marveled at the changes that allowed the field to appear solid to human eyes, Selmak wondered cynically what Malek had had to promise in order to pry the units from Nya's fingers.

The General was being suspiciously quiet.

"Malek, who proposed the idea of a Tau'ri Embassy?" Sam asked finally.

It was a question worth asking, and she could see that knowledge shifting in Malek's eyes when he turned toward her. An Embassy was a novel concept for Goa'uld.Certainly the primitive human cultures maintained by the Goa'uld had never had to develop anything like it. Blood-Hostage was the closest the System Lords had ever gotten, and Daniel would be tickled pink to learn of that Unas tradition.

"I believe Major Green made the suggestion," Malek answered blandly.

He was not going to admit it, was he? Sam crossed her eyes at him before remembering this juvenile habit had belonged to one of Selmak's earlier hosts. Much earlier. Malek smiled slightly and Sam caught the General watching them speculatively. Still more than a little annoyed with him she ignored implicit question and gestured for Malek to continue with the tour. The General would figure it out soon enough. She was looking forward to it.

Malek led them swiftly through the common kitchen and Sam pleased to see that Selmak's things had already been moved to her quarters. The General had looked a bit confused at the layout of four bedrooms opening into a circular common area until Malek explained that this was the best compromise they could make between the crystalline nature of the tunnels and the Tau'ri need for privacy.

"We assumed that a four bedroom structure was optimum given the numbers of the average SG-team,"Malek said matter-of-factly."There are crystals growing for when you feel the need to add additional accommodations. Also we have separated the areas intended for military members and those you might wish to use for political guests. Of course, the latter quarters do not have access to the area holding the labs and the armory."

The General grunted softly, but Sam could see he was uneasily impressed by the logic behind the design. In fact, Sam could not have been more pleased if she had designed the facility. Guests could be shown the labs without compromising the security of the military quarters or the room Malek had explained has been designed for the Naquadah generator. In fact, for a people who had never worried about internal security, it was downright Tau'ran in thought. Sam had visions of Major Green being cornered by overeager Tok'ra engineers and smiled.She did not comment on Malek's assumption about the existence of the generator.

He was correct after all.

She was momentarily concerned about the sheer size of the complex until Malek started talking about energy consumption requirements and she realized the Tok'ra had taken the average energy output of the generator fully into consideration before he had designed the facility and its potential additions.

"So these lights are all plant-based?" General O'Neill asked thoughtfully.

Malek lit up enthusiastically," Absolutely. We had never really considered the concept before - our symbiotes make a wide range of temperatures comfortable for us, so our life support has never been concerned much with temperature or humidity. We had not realized how uncomfortably dry and emotionally sterile the Tau'ri find our tunnels until we asked Major Green."

Malek paused, then added worriedly,"He was most polite."

The General snorted.

"Base security has always been an uneasy balance between our needs and the fact that we must always be concerned about unusual energy signatures revealing our location.Life support remains the largest drain on our resources. Of course, we have no intention of abandoning our artificial systems-they will still be needed in the event of a relocation or attack, but these passive systems will allow us to reduce our energy profile while freeing up resources for other projects."

Malek did not see the thoughtful look the General shot him as he waxed enthusiastically about the bioluminescent lights SG-11 had helped Nya design. Sam did not think his confusion was over the identity of Malek's lab partner. She wondered if she should even bother to explain. The decision was taken out her hands when he turned to her as Malek wandered off to show Teal'c how to adjust the vents in his quarters to accommodate the presence of candles.

"Carter?" the General asked quietly.

She raised a hand helplessly. How did she explain two thousand years of running?

"I think they just got tired, Sir. After a while...it just became a habit."

He studied her narrowly. Would he understand? They were always on the run. A year, a month, a day. It did not matter. At some point the Tok'ra would have to run and leave all this behind. Why put any more effort into it than necessary? At least they could deny the Goa'uld this one victory. They were only destroying tunnels, not homes. True, the hydroponics had a practical use, and she had no doubt the Council would approve the change if this experiment proved viable. They were not fools. They were just not in the habit of changing what already worked.

She wondered what he was thinking as he considered that.

"Carter...people with nothing to fight for have nothing to lose," the General said softly, warningly.

In spite of his residual anger with O'Neill, Sam felt Selmak's attention caught by this statement. Symbiote interest flared and she found herself studying her ex-CO with more closely than she had intended. Habit had her considering the General's words and wondering if this was something he had always seen about the Tok'ra. She had never really considered their allies in that light. Mostly, she had trusted that they were on their side. But as she looked at O'Neill's shadowed eyes, she recalled that he had spent a large chunk of his career training and evaluating people who had nothing to lose.

Maybe his fears about the Tok'ra were based on more than prejudice after all.

She expected Selmak to protest. Instead, she was surprised when her symbiote's interest flared higher and found herself prompted to recall other memories.Images of O'Neill and her own opinions about his behavior were scanned and absorbed. She was startled by her symbiote's apparent surprise as he was presented with a rock solid core of respect for O'Neill's ability to judge and manipulate the enemy. It took her a minute to realize that the symbiote had never considered just how much of Colonel's O'Neill's behavior was strategic rather than impulsive.

More images, years of them, swelled and threatened to carry them away.

Sam shuddered, then closed her eyes as she forced the memories back where they belonged. Selmak was silent and she had the impression the symbiote was a bit shaken by the depth of emotion he had triggered. Sam had thought her feelings more than obvious and it was disconcerting to realize that the symbiote had deliberately kept away from those emotions. It was even more disconcerting to realize that he could.

**It was not intentional.** Selmak thought tiredly.

This time it was Sam who chased after the memory. It took more time than she expected to find it. Selmak was not hiding it, it was simply that he had never considered his own actions as unusual. It was zi'shahn, and it was history. Most hosts came to the Tok'ra with nothing to lose. Most often, their families were dead. The Tok'ra had simply found that absorbing too much of that anger and pain so early in the Blending lent itself to...unpredictable behavior.

**Kamikaze acts of fanaticism,** thought Sam bluntly.

**That too**, Selmak replied mildly.

By the time zi'shahn ended, the hosts had usually learned to think beyond their own pain. Their own losses absorbed into a hundred others the host and symbiote now held in common. Sam's eyes shot open and the brown eyes watching her from a bare foot away never flinched. She stared at him, fascinated by a sudden thought. What would have happened had he not come with them? If SG-1 had not come with her. Would they have faded? Woven themselves into two thousand years of history?

Her sudden snarl of anger caught everyone by surprise.

Teal'c appeared behind Jack's shoulder and Malek was staring at her, horrified. She hissed at him and she saw Jack's eyes widen as the Tok'ra instantly dropped to his knees, hands held away from his body. The anger continued to unravel and she did not consciously realize what she was doing as she reached out and grabbed both men by their fatigues and jerked them forward.

"Carter, what the hell...?"Jack choked out as he fell against her. She swayed, but did not fall and she felt him grab for her shoulder to steady himself. Teal'c was watching her narrowly, but he did not resist. He had kept his balance when she pulled him to her, and simply shifted until his body touched hers. Malek made the mistake of glancing upwards

"Mine,"she hissed in Goa'uld, tone deadly.

Selmak was frozen with shock and she felt his confusion as Sam shrieked the word again in rage. He tried to reach for her and Sam lashed out instinctively. How dare he? SG-1 was hers. He would not. He would not! Without recognizing the memory she reached for memories of her own and slammed them into the hapless symbiote.

_Teal'c handing her a staff weapon, his eyes cautious. Daniel rolling his eyes at something the Colonel had said. The Colonel touching her lightly on the shoulder, waking her for her watch._

Selmak dared?

"Malek, what the hell is going on here?"

"Zi'shahn, O'Neill."

_Daniel nibbling on the end of a pen as he translated the offworld equivalent of a grocery list. Teal'c pulling the chocolate bar from the Colonel's hand and eating it after he complained once to often. The Colonel's expression of disgust as they pulled him out of a puddle of blue slime. His hair had been blue for days..._

She was aware on some level that she was shouting, the Goa'uld syllables tearing at her throat.

"Jack?"

She twisted around and saw Daniel stagger into the corridor a gun in one hand, his feet bare. Her snarl was distressed as she contemplated the distance between them and the fact she had only two hands.

_Daniel. So shy sometimes. Deadly when he needed to be. Her friend. She pulled her respect into the forefront of her mind, her worry when he worked too hard, her rueful acknowledgment of how they were alike in their scientific focus, her anger over his oft-times rose-colored blindness, her gratitude for that self-same view of the world and her despair when she thought he had died. When she had failed to save him. She pulled it all forward, every early morning, and every late night and slammed it into her symbiote._

"Ah Jack...her eyes are glowing."

"I can see that Daniel. Perhaps you might like to get help before she goes for a hand device?"

Terror spiked as Daniel turned to leave and Jack yelped when the light above him flickered and exploded.

"Shit! Daniel...get your ass back here."

Malek was staring at the lights with a confused look of interest. Water sprayed across the corridor as a second light exploded.

_Teal'c.Silent and stoic. A man with a keen mind and a sly sense of humor. Sometimes painfully naive and sometimes so bitter it hurt to see. A man who had had his worldview shattered and broken more times than she could count. Each time he had pulled himself free of the pieces to stand with SG-1 time and time again. She remembered the times he had betrayed them trying to hold to the rules that defined him. She remembered him choosing to let those rules go, finding the courage to face their hurt and pain. She remembered the hurt in his eyes when they betrayed him through simple ignorance. Not in battle, but in the unthinking assumption that their way was better and forgetting that even if he agreed, it was still painful to lose._

Selmak had started to fight back. Ruthlessly she ignored the terror and confusion and did not even question her own actions. Her team. Hers. No one would threaten them. No one would take them away. No one would take anything from her ever again. She had to protect him. She had to make Selmak understand.

_The soft look in his eyes when he thought she was not looking. The evil gleam of humor while he mouthed straightfaced insults to pompous politicians too ignorant to understand they had just been insulted. The guilty admiration she felt at how easily he could chose just the right insult to send one of the bad guys right around the twist.Her anger at the risks he took. Her amazement at the way his mind worked, at the way he could anticipate the reactions of an enemy they knew nothing about. Her frustration at his paranoia and intransigence even after eight years that should have told him that aliens were alien. Emotions raced through her, an outpouring that swelled and hurt, her body too small to contain the painful reality of all she felt for him._

_Love._

_So many threads of it, woven into her very personality. Love for the soldier. Love for the man. Absolute terror that he would be taken from her. The conviction it would be better to die if that was what it took to protect him._

She sensed movement, then felt his thumb brush softly against her cheek, wiping away tears. Unconsciously reacting to the bone deep trust triggered by that touch, Selmak threw herself forward, hands clutching desperately at Jack's shoulders.

"Help,"she managed.

Sam smiled coldly, a visceral reaction to the calculating shadow that passed through Jack's eyes. A soft purr of approval vibrated in her throat as she considered his reaction. Behind her, another light exploded as her sense of triumph spiraled and Selmak shuddered and tried to pull herself closer to the brown eyes that were her only salvation.

A sense of motion behind her had Sam twisting to face unknown threat. Before she could complete the turn Jack's hands were on her face and his mouth was nipping softly at hers. She froze for one stunned moment, then predatory victory swirled through her and she wrapped her arms around him and she leaned forward to taste her prize. His mouth opened under hers and she hummed with pleasure as he acknowledged her claim. Then her body jerked as a soft hiss and a cold pressure against her neck startled her. Her arm flew back and collided with something soft and warm. Unable to focus properly she wavered, balance tilting as Jack's hands gripped her shoulders. She had one moment to turn to him, to meet his eyes, her own wide with questions and confusion.

Then the world went black.

* * *

Jack stared down at the unconscious woman collapsed in his arms. Raising his eyes he looked blankly at the three Tok'ra next to Daniel. Malek, who had gone to get help. Anise, who was studying Sam with fear in her eyes. A third woman Jack did not recognize was slumped against the wall, a hypospray of some kind clutched in her hand. 

It was raining.

No alarms. No screams. Just the sound of water falling as the water from the hydroponics system sprayed down and drenched everyone within thirty feet. More people were gathering at the end of the corridor and Jack wondered just what in the hell he was supposed to tell them.


	9. Egeria's Promise 4

A/N: Just a quick note for anyone confused about why Sam flipped out in Chapter 8. Suffice to say, she triggered a Goa'uld reflex. There will be a more in-depth explaination in chapter 10. I also wanted to say thanks for the reviews! Your questions help keep me focused on what needs to be emphasized or explained in upcoming chapters.

* * *

Swallowing the two Tylenol Teal'c handed him, Daniel sank onto a nearby bench, held his head and groaned. All he wanted to do was sleep. Unconsciousness would do in a pinch. Neither his headache nor nausea had benefited from the adrenalin spike as he had lurched into wakefulness to the sound of Sam screaming. He shifted uncomfortably as the damp, scratchy feeling of wet, heavy cotton plastered to sunburned skin finally registered. 

Oh...yuck.

Much as he would have preferred to keel over, the ominous silence had him peeling open one eyelid and searching for Jack. His other eye snapped open when he found the older man stretched out on another bench, head and shoulders propped against his SGC pack. Daniel considered the sprawled figure suspiciously. Daniel had no idea what had just happened with Sam and Selmak, but weighing Jack's current nonchalance against the situation was not reassuring.

"Jack?"

"Daniel?"

"Aren't you supposed to be off threatening to shoot people right about now?"

There was a muffled snort from Teal'c's direction, but Jack simply waved a hand dismissively. With his sunglasses on, it was hard to see if his eyes were open or closed, but Daniel had seen that negligent pose often enough to get worried. Extremely worried. Standard O'Neill modus operandi when SG-1 was injured included complaints, threats, and lots of pacing. Unless it was serious. Then he would hold himself extraordinarily still with a finely honed tension that scraped Daniel's nerves raw.

This I'm-so-relaxed-you-could-poke-me-with-a-stick attitude usually boded badly for the bad guys.

With Jack, there was thinking...and then there was thinking.

"Ah...Teal'c?"

Teal'c looked at him with polite interest. "Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel squinted against the headache, trying to see if that was amusement he heard in the Jaffa's voice. He decided it was the headache.

"Is there any particular reason we're at DEFCON 2 and climbing?"

There was suspicious quiver of Teal'c's lower lip, but all he did was hand Daniel a glass of water.

"O'Neill has not informed me of the need for such a state. The Tok'ra have said that Colonel Carter is as well as can be expected given her condition."

Riiiggghht.

And the lack of pacing and Jaffa death glares meant...what?

"All will be well, Daniel Jackson."

Daniel grunted, then frowned as his nose twitched. What the hell? He had put his glasses on instinctively when he had run out to shoot whatever was threatening Sam, but for the first time he took a good look around him.

"Holy..."

"Yeah, kinda cool huh?" Jack asked, an odd tone in his voice that Daniel would almost have interpreted as gleeful if it wasn't for the fact that this was Jack.

Jack plus Tok'ra did not equal gleeful.

"It's ours,"Jack added.

Huh?

"What?" he heard himself ask. He really had to stop doing that. Another couple of years and they would all sound like Jack. Well except for Teal'c. Was that a Jaffa thing or were humans just more adaptable? Flexible? Something that sounded a bit better than malleable anyway. There were days he thought SG-1 was the lemming factor squared.

Maybe he could blame it on a military thing.

"The Tok'ra have informed us that this facility is to be considered the Tau'ri Embassy, Dr. Jackson."

Daniel felt himself blink. That was a joke right? That was..

"That's kind of ingenious actually," he said slowly."Given Selmak's legal position."

"Yeah, well...I'm buggered if I don't come up with some ROE for those of us stuck here with her," Jack grumbled. "Did I ever tell you how much I hated the Gulf?"

Daniel blinked, certain that statement actually made sense in some alternate Jack language that he had never managed to decipher.

"This is hardly occupied territory, Jack," he ventured cautiously, covering his confusion with just a hint of acid.

Jack peered at him over his sunglasses."That's what you think."

Daniel blinked again, wondering why he suddenly had vivid memories cascading through his brain of that time Jack had them short-sheet all the bunks in the temp quarters the day SG-3 got sucked into that swamp and quarantined. He was missing something. He really was.

"I don't get it though,"Jack stated,"They've been living in these tunnels for centuries. They honestly expect us to believe they've never considered biological filtration systems?"

"As Malek has said, O'Neill, it has not been necessary before this."

"Sixty percent of their resources on life support, Teal'c.I'd say that's pretty damn necessary."

Teal'c tilted his head thoughtfully."Then perhaps Colonel Carter is correct and it is simply habit not to spend more effort than required on that which is temporary."

Jack grumbled a bit more. "I agree. In part! But sixty percent Teal'c. Something doesn't add up."

"They're symbiotes,"Daniel pointed out.

There was a long silence, then Jack sighed."Daniel, contrary to expectations, the meaning of that statement is not self-evident."

Daniel would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't thought his head would explode. Really, what was difficult about the concept? They were aliens. ALIENS, Jack.

"They're non-tool using predators, Jack. Carnivorous predators as far as I could tell from the fossils we found on 888. I suspect they used their fangs initially to attach to the brain stem of their prey, subduing it so the rest of the..well, pack I guess, could feed."

"I read the report, Daniel,"Jack said, slightly exasperated.

"Think about it, Jack. They went from a highly efficient predator to a highly efficient parasite so quickly there's barely any sign of it in the fossil record.We know something happened more than ten thousand years ago, since that's when Ra showed up on Earth, but that's it."

Jack's sunglasses appeared to glare at Daniel. "And? So? Therefore?"

"Sooo...an evolutionary change like that doesn't just happen. Whatever event that catalyzed the change was widespread and sweeping and normally that means something environmental. Some cataclysmic event that only a handful of Goa'uld probably survived. And it was probably some small physical mutation, which means they aren't going to abandon millions of years of evolution anymore than we are. Their whole biology is based on adaptation. We're the tool users."

Jack flexed his hand consideringly,"Pretty handy tool, Daniel. The human body, I mean."

Daniel resisted the urge to start jumping up and down excitedly. Times like these he wished he paced. "Yes! But don't you see? All along the line, they have adapted to our culture, our history. They took on the personae of our Gods. They wear the clothes, use the names. They Blend in. Even their approach to technology fits the model. They use what they learn from other cultures just enough to survive and no more. There are no Goa'uld artists or poets or writers."

"I doubt they'd survive very long,"Jack pointed out dryly.

Daniel shook his head,"The ancient gods never wrote the poetry or created the art. They commanded it, or inspired it, but they never created it.

"Dr. Jackson is quite correct," a female voice said unexpectedly.

Daniel was the only one who visibly startled. Unfortunately, he'd never get a straight answer out of Jack as to whether or not he was surprised. Teal'c either, but Daniel was more inclined to believe the Jaffa.

Anise stepped through the doorway when no one said anything. She slanted her eyes toward Jack and touched one of the plants lightly."It takes a certain amount of arrogance to change the world." She smiled slightly as if amused.

"Poor Selmak," she said mockingly, her eyes alight with an odd gleam.

Daniel's eyes narrowed in confusion, but before he could chase down what was bothering him, Anise turned toward him.

"Her name was Khaos."

Without waiting for a response, the Tok'ra settled gracefully onto the bench Jack had been lounging on and looked at Daniel expectantly. Jack edged around the coffee-table thing and sat on the bench next to Daniel. Teal'c stayed where he was. Anise ignored both of them, her gaze intent on Daniel.

"Khaos? You mean Chaos? The mother of all gods?" Daniel stuttered a bit as he tried to juxtapose what he knew about the Goa'uld and what he knew of Earth..

Anise nodded, the symbiote tone of her voice deepening,"She was the only survivor."

Jack glanced between them,"You mean Daniel was right?"

Anise looked at him for a long moment, long enough that Jack started to get defensive. Finally she glanced past his shoulder and her mouth twisted.

"The Elder Children were ever convinced of their right to bend the universe to their will," she said bitterly.

Jack blinked, then looked at Daniel, eyebrow raising.

Daniel rubbed his forehead, flipping through mental translations."Er...the Ancients, I think."

Anise gestured acquiescence."The Ancients came to our world looking for a solution for a plague. They found us."

Jack narrowed his eyes, but stayed silent as the Tok'ra rubbed her hands against her thighs for several moments before continuing.

"Our genes were modified. As a species, our genetic memory existed in embryonic form. When they were done tailoring our DNA to their own, our mass had fallen, our memories were more compact and efficient, our lifespans were extended, and our intelligence boosted to true sentience. This last was an unintended side effect. In truth, we were not supposed to be anything more than a biological replacement for their failing immune systems."

Daniel opened his mouth to protest. Surely they had misunderstood. The Ancients could not have meant to use the Goa'uld as slaves. Then he glanced at Jack and saw him watching Anise thoughtfully, without a shred of disbelief. Or surprise. Teal'c was also silent.

Anise sighed."It is hard to say what we might have become, had the plague not mutated. The mental abilities of the Ancients prevented us from taking control and the plague made them desperate. It is possible we might have..."

"So that's why Nirrti is a renegade," Jack said flatly.

"Yes,"Anise said. "The Goa'uld are afraid that if she succeeds, she will not only breed the mental abilities of the Elder Children back into the Tau'ri, but their resistance as well."

Daniel couldn't think of a damn thing to say to that.

"The original control group was bred to link with Unas. Understand, it was not intended to be the end result. This was merely a midpoint in our evolution. Once the changes were stable, they introduced their own DNA into the next generation. Somehow, the melding of Ancient DNA allowed the plague to mutate such that it could attack the Goa'uld DNA. Only the original experimental group, the ones bred to Blend with the Unas had any resistance. Every single Goa'uld on the planet died - except us."

Anise's eyes held remembered horror, and Daniel was abruptly aware that for her, it was very real.

"The mutation terrified the Ancients. They were now convinced that nothing would stop the virus. In their defense, many of the evolving species in the galaxy were distantly related. It is theoretically possible the virus could have evolved to attack them as well."

"But...?" Jack asked bluntly.

"But their biggest concern was their own species. Those that could not Ascend. They had built a device years previous - a doomsday weapon to be unleashed when all hope was lost. It would destroy all life, all vestiges of the virus in this galaxy - and then they would start again." Anise smiled tightly."We stopped them."

There was an ominous, heavy silence.

"Dakara," Teal'c said with regret.

Anise nodded."We did not know where the device was. We only knew it existed. The scientific team on our world was a small one. We know now that they likely Gated from the Pegasus Galaxy, but at the time - at the time we thought they were out there, somewhere in this galaxy. The Ancients had trained Khaos and the others to assist in the lab. They were ...unprepared for an attack. When it was over, Khaos was the only one left. She eventually led her children as well as her host's clan through the Stargate looking for the weapon - and the Elder Children."

Daniel tried to think of what to ask first. God, where did he begin?

"Pretty convenient," Jack said suddenly.

Daniel just stared blankly.

"Khaos being the only survivor, and a queen,"Jack expanded.

Jesus Jack. Ever hear of tact?

No...of course not. What was he thinking. The only tact Jack acknowledged was tactical.

Anise smiled tightly,"You are correct, General O'Neill. As was Dr. Jackson, on the surface."

Daniel paused, his mouth half open to apologize. He was? They were?

"The Goa'uld queens in natural form are hermaphroditic, yet the legends clearly state that her first children were parthenogenic."

"Like what Selmak did. He cloned himself," Daniel said slowly.

Anise tilted her head,"Essentially. But it is a slow process and at some point, Goa'uld queens did reemerge. Gaia was the first."

Teal'c tightened his shoulders and frowned,"You believe she was created. Using Ancient technology."

Anise shrugged,"We believe it to be the most likely possibility. Khaos was trained to assist them with their research. Unfortunately, if true, it is a secret that has been lost to us. Until Selmak, many had believed the stories of parthenogenesis to be misrepresentations of the truth. That Khaos was no more than any other goa'uld queen."

"What do you believe?" Daniel asked curiously.

Oddly, it was Jack she chose to look at as she answered."I believe that if there is an answer, I do not know how to find it."

Then she was standing and Daniel was reflexively trying to stand with her. Teal'c grabbed his arm as he started to list sideways and by the time he recovered his balance, Jack had escorted her to the door. If anything, the intensity as she looked at Jack increased as she turned to face him.

"There are three personalities in any Tok'ra Blending, O'Neill. The host, the symbiote, and the Blended. It is rare for a Tok'ra to exist as absolutely one or the other. More often, the partnership is more comfortable with a combination of the two. The mix that creates that third personality fluctuates with circumstance, but is centered around a core. A resting state if you will. Normally, the dominant contributing personality is that of the symbiote as it has traditionally proven to be the safest and most effective result of Zi'Shahn."

Daniel saw Jack's eyes narrow suspiciously.

"But...?" Jack asked leadingly.

Anise eyed him thoughtfully, then reached out to stroke the leaf of a nearby plant. "I think perhaps humanity is contagious."

Daniel winced as Teal'c's fingers tightened on his arm, however the Jaffa said nothing. A quick glance at his face showed his emotions to be tightly contained, even more than normal. Jack was still deciding how to react when Anise tilted her head and smiled.

"Perhaps Colonel Carter is arrogant enough for all of us, O'Neill."


	10. Egeria's Promise 5

_**If one who does battle with full force survives, and one who does not do battle with full force perishes, this is called deadly ground;**_

_**Where there is nowhere to go, this is called deadly ground;**_

_**On deadly ground, show resolve to fight to the death;**_

_**On deadly ground, do battle.**_

_Sun Tzu, The Art of War (excerpts)_

* * *

Someone was watching her.

Low level awareness became knowledge, until it felt as if she had always known this truth, but could not remember exactly when it began. It was rather like dreaming. Sam considered that conclusion with distant interest. She was not awake. Exactly. She was not asleep. Exactly. Yet she was intensely aware of everything.

The slight chill.

The dry, acid bite of the tunnels.

Body heat and scent identified Daniel to her left. Sweat and the sour tang of stress. Her skin prickled as she identified the solid bulk of Teal'c standing against the far wall. The crystal whisper of the tunnels reflected each trickle of sound, a sigh, a shuffle, twisted and attenuated by distance. She was fascinated to realize she could hear the void created by his bulk. It was an absence of sound caused by his body.

Crystal reflected, flesh did not.

She continued to breathe softly, awareness expanding to include the entire room. Euphoria curled up from her toes, winding around her bones and exploding up her spine as sound caressed her skin and the scent of SG-1 overloaded her senses. Warm cotton and warm skin. Salt and wet leather. Gun-oil and metal. Top notes that spun themselves into the atmosphere, aggressively announcing their presence to the world. Hints of truth in the deeper, longer lasting layers revealed by time and proximity. Middle notes of laughter and wood smoke, swamp water and mosquitoes. Base notes of loyalty, exhilaration, and pulse-pounding fear.

Joy.

_Acceptance_, another part of her mind whispered.

Regret.

_Zi'shahn_, came the answer.

Wonder at the understanding. Rueful recognition of truth. She had only herself to blame. Loss, for that which could not be undone. There was no sense of separation, no conflict of interests. Yet she was changed, newly born and eager to see the world with new eyes. Old hurts muted and expanded, an awareness of pain and sadness that was memory and familiar and something that would keep for another day.

She tried to reach for the warmth, the safety, and companionship that watched over her.

Panic.

We are not awake; a part of her reminded herself soothingly.

Confusion.

_Healing trance_, she remembered.

Kel'no'reem?

_Close enough_.

A new presence intruded into the room. Sam wrinkled her nose as the scents competed unpleasantly with those of her teammates. Where they had been welcomed and recognizable, this note was jarring. Fear nibbled its way to consciousness, a primeval terror born of helplessness and the bone deep recognition that to be helpless meant to die. Awareness of identity battled with instinct and the knowledge that the healing trance was necessary temporarily overrode instinct as the intruder moved about the room. As did the knowledge that SG-1 was watching over her.

For the moment, it was enough.

* * *

When it was required, Jack O'Neill was a patient man.

Teal'c had been watching him warily all day. Jack half suspected him of being worried he would started an interplanetary incident and given the looks the Tok'ra had been giving him, bets were being placed on when he'd pull a zat and shoot someone. Or not. They knew he didn't trust them. He also knew they didn't understand why.

It was bloody damn obvious as far as he was concerned. On the other hand, maybe that was history talking. The whole specter of brainwashing had been a cold war thing. But just because he was a paranoid bastard didn't mean he was wrong. The Tok'ra didn't call it sharing, they called it Blending. If he had learned anything about the Tok'ra over the years, it was the fact they were damn picky about the words they used. Witness the hours upon hours upon weeks fighting over the wording of the damn Treaty.

He'd have thought Daniel might have remembered that.

He might make a lousy diplomat, but Jack O'Neill was a soldier to the bone and he knew body language. Was quite good at it actually. Sort of a job requirement. And body language had made it pretty clear that there weren't two people inside each Tok'ra, there were three.

It had made sense, once he figured it out.

The Tok'ra visiting the SGC were careful to maintain a clear separation between host and snake, but the ones at the Alpha Site were less cautious. That, and they were scientists. Catch 'em off guard and they'd tell you whatever you wanted to know. Really wind them up and the problem was getting them to stop talking long enough to breathe. Or eat. They definitely stopped paying attention to how they were standing. Hell, Daniel and Carter could forget where they were standing and what they were standing on. He had vivid memories of standing in cold, slimy, swamp water the time Carter had needed to do some charcoal rubbings while perched on his shoulders. He'd have thought an alien race advanced enough to invent advanced devices could have put the instructions on DVD.

Had he mentioned that the swamp water had things living in it?

The scientists and philosophers could argue nature vs. nurture all they wanted. Maybe they were even right. Who knew? But the way Jack reacted on a day to day level, the way he decided whether to shoot or hold on just a moment longer relied on memory and training. Maybe John O'Neill was still the same man he had ever been, but General Jack O'Neill sure as hell was not. All he had was memory, training, and instinct. Take those away, or change them, and Jack O'Neill was no longer the man he used to be.

He eyed the woman in the infirmary bed and wondered who she was now.

If he was right, the presence of SG-1 should have reinforced most of Carter's reactions. He was actually kind of curious how those reactions translated when filtered through goa'uld instinct. Not happy about it, but sort of curious. That explosion in the hallway had Carter written all over it, even if the Tok'ra were slinking around with guilty expressions on their faces.

Like the one currently on Anise's face. She had stepped up to the bed to take some sort of reading and Carter popped open malevolent blue eyes and hissed at her. Freya shot him a worried look. Daniel shot him a worried look. Hell, even Teal'c was looking at him funny. Surely they didn't miss the fact she was hissing because Anise had stepped between the bed and a member of SG-1. Teal'c to be precise. So either Carter was reacting like a goa'uld, or Selmak was acting like Carter.

Either way, stage one complete.

Daniel waited until Anise had left the room and Carter had closed her eyes before looking at Jack with a wary expression. Jack decided to jump start the conversation, otherwise they'd still be discussing this tomorrow.

"Malek say what was responsible for the light show?"

Daniel nodded cautiously."Ah...yeah. He did. He thinks one of the trace minerals they used in the hydroponics system reacts to the energy frequencies given off by the Naquadah in Sam's system."

Jack blinked. "She tried to use it as a hand device?"

Daniel shifted uneasily."Er...yes. Basically."

"Ah,"Jack said, mildly impressed. That was Carter. Always finding new ways to blow things up. Slightly cheered by this evidence his 2IC was still in her right mind he narrowed his eyes at the rest of SG-1.

It was up to her team to keep her that way.


End file.
